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HORSE    AND     MAE" 

•      THEIR    MUTUAL    DEPENDENCE 
AND    DUTIES 


BY    THE 

EEV.   J:   G.  WOOD 

AUTHOR    OF 
'HO.UES    WITHOUT    HAiNDS'       'BIBLE    ANIMALS'       ETC. 


y*"*  -7  median 

CumrmngsS  •  ^ry  Medicine  at 

Turts  University 

200  Westboro  Road 

North  Grafton,  MA  01536 

PHILADELPHIA: 

J.  b.  lipTincott  COMPANY. 

18  86. 


PREFACE. 

Although  this  work  treats  of  the  Horse,  it  is  not 
1  horsey,'  because  I  am  not  a  horsey  man.  Horsiness 
has  no  place  in  it,  and,  for  a  time  at  least,  will 
probably  be  in  opposition  to  it.  I  only  ask  the  reader 
to  bear  in  mind  that  I  pretend  to  no  discoveries, 
and  advance  no  theories.  I  simply  state  facts,  offer 
evidence  of  those  facts,  adduce  proofs  of  that 
evidence,  state  how  and  where  these  proofs  can 
be  verified,  and  then  leave  the  impartial  reader  to 
draw  his  own  conclusions. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  hoof  as  distinct  from  the  foot — Dependence  of  one  part  on  the 
others — Skeleton  of  the  horse — Story  of  '  Orlando  ' — Use  of 
scientific  language — The  spine  and  the  limbs — The  legs  of  the 
horse  compared  with  the  limbs  of  man — Gradual  development 
of  the  horse — The  anchitherium  and  hipparion — Structure  of 
the  fore-limb,  or  arm — Rotation  of  the  fore- arm  prevented — 
Small  size  of  the  original  horse — An  eight-hoofed  horse — 
Hind  legs  of  the  horse  compared  with  the  legs  of  man — The 
true  knee  of  the  horse — Elasticity  of  the  structure  .         .         . 


CHAPTER  II. 

Connection  between  the  foot  and  the  hoof — Extent  of  the  foot — 
"What  is  horn  ? — Original  dwelling-place  of  the  horse — Climb- 
ing powers  of  the  horse — Requisites  of  the  hoof — Strength, 
because  it  has  to  bear  the  weight  of  so  heavy  an  animal — 
Lightness,  lest  the  horse  should  have  to  lift  needless  weight 
— The  '  coffin  '  bone  and  its  structure — Hardness,  to  endure 
contact  with  bad  ground — Sharpness,  round  edge  to  enable 
the  horse  to  climb — Clinging,  to  suit  smooth  and  slippery 
ground — Self-repairing,  for  restoration  of  worn  material : 
the  Wall,  Frog,  and  Sole — Structure  of  the  wall — The  horny 
laminae — Their  origin  and  mode  of  growth — Over-grown  hoofs 
— Elasticity  begins  with  angle  of  pastern — The  prog,  its  posi- 
tion, structure,  and  office — Analogies  between  Nature  and 
human  inventions — The  sole  :  its  structure  and  double  office  .       22 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   III. 

Internal  structure  of  the  hoof — The  hoof  compared  with  the  Jac- 
quard  loom — Longitudinal  section  of  pastern — The  '  navicular ' 
bone :  its  origin,  form,  and  office — The  tendons — Flexor  and 
extensor  muscles  and  their  tendons — The  'coronary  '  ring  and 
its  object — The  hoof  of  the  horse  and  the  nail  of  man — The 
'  quick  '  of  the  nail — The  '  sensitive '  or  '  vascular '  laminee — 
Mutual  dependence  of  the  horny  and  vascular  laminae — 
Analogy  of  laminae  of  whalebone  and  those  of  hoof — Expansive 
property  of  hoof — Mr.  Miles's  experiments — Advantage  of  this 
property  in  a  hunter — Effect  of  shoes  in  leaping — In  any  pace 
the  heel  comes  on  the  ground  before  the  toe — Importance  of 
this  fact 38 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Expansion  acknowledged,  acted  upon,  and  perverted — Authorised 
directions  for  shoeing — '  Thinning '  and  '  opening  ' — Horse- 
shoeing in  England  and  America — 'Dew-drops,'  i.e.  oozing 
blood — The  diseases  called  by  the  name  of  'thrush' — True 
causes  of  thrush — Supply  of  blood  to  hoof — Nature's  balance 
of  supply  and  waste — Office  of  the  blood — '  Thrush '  a  safety- 
valve  for  inflamed  blood — Derivation  of  the  word  '  founder ' — 
'Thrush'  never  seen  in  wild  horses — A  comprehensive  chal- 
lenge— Where  do  wild  horses  keep  their  knives  ? — The  frog 
"  again — Lieutenant  Douglas  on  the  frog  and  its  value.  Mr.  T. 
Gepp's  experience 56 


CHAPTER   V. 

The  frog  continued — '  Hammering '  on  the  roads — Cause  of  the 
hammering — King  Theodore's  horse  '  Hammel ' — Elasticity  of 
the  frog — The  '  Village  Blacksmith  ' — The  bicycle  wheel — 
Analogy  between  carriage  springs  and  the  horse's  hoof — 
Lodgment  of  stones — Mr.  S.  Cbapin  and  his  bare-footed  horse 
— Hartmann's  safety  pad — Spiked  shoes — American  shoeing — 
Injury  to  the  untouched  frog  impossible — '  Greasy '  roads — 
Manchester  'lurry'  horses — The  streets  of  Manchester — A 
doctor's  horses — Shoes  of  lurry  horses — Ludgate  Hill  and  its 
terrors — Lieut.  Douglas's  testimony — Indiarubber  soles  on  ice 
and  on  board  ship — The  hoof  an  organ  of  touch — Mr.  J. 
Bellows's  story — '  Free  Lances'  view  of  the  frog  and  its  uses 
— Relative  dependence  of  the  frog  and  navicular  bone     .         .       69 


CONTENTS  XI 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Horseshoeing  on  '  improved  principles ' — Hot-fitting — '  Clips '  and 
their  origin — Groove  cutting  in  the  hoof — Natural  thatch  of 
the  coronet — Natural  varnish  of  the  hoof — Abuse  of  the  rasp 
— Blacking  hoofs — Effect  of  grease  on  the  hoof — 4  Stopping ' 
hoofs — The  '  bottle  of  oils  ' — Its  effect  on  the  hoof — Drugs  in 
stables — Horses  poisoned — Thirty  thus  lost  by  one  owner — 
Anti-drug  Association — The  rashness  of  ignorance  ...       86 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  shoe — Artificial  roads  and  artificial  protection — Variety  in 
roads — Straw  shoes  of  Japan — Raw  hide  or  '  parfleche  '  shoes 
of  North  American  Indians — Shoe  nails — Their  ordinary  size 
and  number  employed — Diminishing  thickness  of  wall — An 
old  Scotch  law — The  '  unilateral  'system — A  hoof  prepared  on 
the  '  improved  system ' — A  mangled  hoof  restored  by  Nature 
— The  dangers  of  shoe  nails — Cut  nails  and  forged  nails — A 
remarkable  accident — Effect  of  a  heavy  shoe  on  the  horse — 
'  Marden '  and  the  dead  heat — Effect  of  a  heavy  shoe  on  the 
muscles — Lancashire  clops  and  French  sabots — Cetewayo  and 
followers  in  England — The  '  lurry '  horses  and  their  shoes — 
Lieut.  Douglas's  calculations — Loosened  hoofs  .         .         .     101 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  calk,  or  calkin — Horses  on  pattens — Two  strange  accidents — 
Calks  in  America — Supposed  uses  of  the  calk — Sir.  Bowditch's 
testimony — Weight  thrown  on  the  edge  of  the  coffin  bone — 
High-heeled  boots  and  their  effects — The  battle  of  the  shoes — ■ 
Recognition  of  defects  in  shoeing — The  Goodenough  shoe  and 
its  object — Jointed  shoes — The  Clark  jointed  shoe— The  screw 
shoe — Expansion  and  contraction — The  effect  of  the  screw  on 
the  hoof — Tips,  and  how  to  fasten  them — The  Charlier,  or 
'pre-plantar '  shoe — How  to  apply  it — Usually  too  large  and 
in  danger  of  breaking  and  twistinjr — Best  length  and  weight 
for  a  Charlier  shoe — Man  versus  Nature — A  series  of  happy 
thoughts — Their  results  upon  each  portion  of  the  hoof     .         .     116 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  shoe  useful  in  proportion  to  its  lightness — Therefore,  the  best 
shoe  seems  to  be  none  at  all — Capability  of  the  human  foot — 
Value  of  an  army  dependent  on  its  marching  power — Lord 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Wolseley's  axiom — Edinburgh  lasses — Moccasin  vei'sus  boot — 
Mansfield  Parky ns  in  Abyssinia — Ladies  and  children  at  the 
sea-side — Charles  Waterton  in  Guiana — Col.  Dodge's  account 
of  the  North  American  Indian's  pony — A  race  between  the 
Indian's  pony  and  the  high-bred  horse — Exmoor  and  Dartmoor 
ponies — Description  of  these  '  moors ' — How  to  make  a  horse's 
hoof  tender — The  hoof  an  organ  of  all-work — Saddle  and 
draught — Col.  Burnaby's  opinion     ......    142 

CHAPTER  X. 

Unshod  horses  now  at  work — Dr.  Llewellyn's  horse  on  London 
roads — Thirteen  thousand  miles  without  shoes — Always  went 
lame  when  shod — His  transfer  to  Mr.  A.  F.  Astley — Mr. 
Astley's  horse  'Tommy' — State  of  his  hoofs  when  bought — 
Process  of  training — Work  done  by  him  unshod  on  hard 
roads— Photographs  of  his  hoofs — Mr.  Whitmore  Baker's 
mare 'Stella' — Facts  versus  theory — Photographs  of  'Stella' 
and  her  hoofs — Letters  from  Mr.  Baker — Work  done  by 
'  Stella  '  barefooted — Galloping  over  ice  or  loose  stones — Mr. 
Baker's  offer  to  enable  other  horses  to  work  unshod — His 
preparation  for  hoofs  and  its  possible  value — Influence  of 
external  conditions  on  the  hoof — The  condemned  tramcar 
horse — Result  of  removing  the  shoes — Five  hundred  and  forty 
miles  unshod — Photograph  of  the  hoof  in  transitional  state — 
Mistaken  benevolence 158 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Hardening  and  renovating  the  hoof — Variety  in  hoofs — Thrush 
concealed  by  shoe — Dr.  Brierley's  horses — Horses  in  Italy — 
Mr.  Theodore  E.  Williams's  horse  '  Prince ' — Lame  when  shod 
— Experiment  on  another  horse,  and  result — Mr.  Herbert 
Smith's  experiments — Altered  shape  of  hoof— Need  of  per- 
severance— Xenophon's  rules  for  hardening  the  hoof— General 
summary  of  the  subject 178 

CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Professional  Eye — Fashion  and  nature — The  curb — Weight  and 
size  of  bit — The  bearixg-rein  —  Three  kinds  of  bearing-rein — 
The  gag  bearing-rein — Mechanical  parallel — The  over-head 
rein — Neck  of  the  horse — Great  ligament  of  the  neck  and  its 
attachments — Vertebrae   of    neck   and   spine — Vertebrae    and 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

PAGE 

railway  buffers — Arrangement  of  a  train — The  martingale — 
Rattling  of  harness  and  tossing  of  heads — Sir  Arthur  Helps' 
opinion — Effect  of  the  gag  bearing-rein  on  the  spine  and  feet — 
The  '  burr '  bit  of  America — Mr.  Henry  Bergh's  work — The 
locomotive  and  the  horse 198 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  bearing-rein  continued — The  locomotive  and  the  brake — Proba- 
tion of  an  engine  driver — The  bearing-rein  and  the  break — 
Leading  reins  converted  into  bearing-reins — Railway  companies 
and  the  bearing-rein — Theories  as  to  the  bearing-rein — Its 
supposed  use  in  preventing  the  horse  from  falling — Bearing- 
reins  and  hills — Harness  in  Scotland — The  bearing-rein  in 
Bristol — Mr.  Cracknell's  testimony — The  bearing-rein  and 
runaway  horses — A  grievous  experience — The  shoulder  injured 
by  the  bearing-rein — Testimony  of  more  than  a  hundred  veteri- 
nary surgeons — 'Roaring'  caused  by  the  bearing-rein — Mis- 
taken zeal — Summary — 'Free  Lance's'  check  for  a  runaway 
horse       .        .        .  " 222 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

The  blinker  and  its  supposed  uses — Cropping  of  ears — Alleged 
necessity  for  cropping — Contradictory  temperament  of  the 
horse — Courage  and  timidity — Inquisitiveness — Rarey's  prin- 
ciple— The  kettle-drummer's  horse — Mr.  C.  H.  Tamplin's 
experience — Obstinacy  of  a  coachman — Value  of  the  'master's 
eye '— Waterton  at  Walton  Hall— Letter  from  '  C.  F.  W.'  to 
the  Field  newspaper — '  Jockeying  '  adviser — Modified  blinkers 
— Eye  of  the  horse — Cruel  superstitions — The  third  eyelid,  or 
'nictitating  membrane,'  and  its  use — The  groom's  rashness  and 
its  effects 244 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  mane  and  the  practice  of '  hogging  ' — The  tail  and  its  office — 
"What  man  does  to  the  tail — Docking — A  puzzled  JP. — The 
professional  eye  again — Docking  and  lock-jaw — Nicking — An 
unexpected  ally — 'Conducive  to  human  safety' — The  tail  and 
the  crupper — Winter  and  summer  coats  of  the  horse — Clipping 
and  singeing — American  horses  in  winter — Fashion  with  man 
and  horse — The  groom's  real  reason  for  clipping — Mayhew  and 
Lupton's  opinions  of  clipping — The  '  moulting '  of  birds  .         .     264 


XIV  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  lungs  of  the  horse  and  their  comparative  size — Their  shape 
and  position — Their  demand  for  air — Defective  stables — Venti- 
lation— A  shining  coat — The  stomach  of  the  horse  and  its 
small  size — Comparison  with  the  stomach  of  the  ox — Mistakes 
in  feeding — Result  of  over-loading  the  stomach — Experience 
of  a  veterinary  surgeon — Water,  when  to  give,  and  how  much 
— Traditions  of  trainers — A  Turkish  custom — Purity  of  water 
and  water  vessels — Sloping  floors  and  their  evils — The  loco- 
motive and  the  horse  again — A  sloping  couch — The  manger 
and  drinking  trough — Structure  of  the  head  and  throat — The 
stable  door — Width  of  stalls — 'Weaving'  and  crib-biting — 
The  electric  manger 287 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

The  horse  and  the  locomotive  again — '  Vice  '  in  horses  and  its  in- 
variable cause — Mayhew's  opinion — Vice  in  cavalry  horses — 
The  soldier  and  the  '  irreclaimable '  savage — New  mode  of 
treatment. — Apparent  failure  and  ultimate  success — A  relapse 
when  in  strange  hands — Another  '  irreclaimable '  savage — 
Story  of  '  Fly,'  '  The  Baroness '  and  '  War  Eagle,'  all  three 
being  New  Zealand  horses — The  horse's  capacity  for  affection 
— Its  peculiar  love  for  man — The  horse  a  gregarious  animal — 
Bulgarian  horses — '  Spoiled  '  horses — The  horse's  desire  to 
obey  man — A  circus  horse — Gilpin  redivivus — Cavalry  horses 
and  their  habits  of  obedience — The  old  horse  at  a  review — 
Disbanded  horses  in  a  thunderstorm — The  14th  Hussars  at  the 
Cape — Escape  of  their  horses — An  amateur  review  without 
officers — Muster  of  loose  and  wounded  horses  after  battle — Mr. 
Luck's  horse—  Imprisoned  in  winter — Endurance  of  the  horse — 
'  Sam  '  and  his  tricks       ••■•••■•     SOQ 


INTRODUCTION. 


As  the  reader  may  have  inferred  from  the  Preface, 
this  work  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  horse  as  an 
instrument  of  sport.  Neither  will  anything  be  found 
in  it  with  relation  to  the  breeding  of  horses,  or  with 
their  technical  '  points  ; '  with  buying  and  selling, 
with  the  tricks  of  trade  (which,  by  the  way,  are  not 
one  whit  worse  than  the  tricks  of  any  other  trade), 
nor  with  medical  and  surgical  treatment. 

Let  the  breeding  of  horses  be  left  to  those  whose 
long  experience  (tempered  with  a  little  fresh  blood 
from  an  outsider)  enables  them  to  supply  from  the 
same  original  source  the  elephantine  cart  horse,  the 
light  and  swift  racer,  the  sturdy  cob  for  general 
service,  the  pony  for  our  young  people,  or  that 
wonderful  combination  of  speed  and  power  which 
carries  its  rider  to  the  front  in  the  hunting  field. 

Let  the  horse  trade  be  left  to  those  who  under- 

a 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

stand  the  ever-shifting  vagaries  of  fashion,  and  who 
are  familiar  with  the  various  '  points '  which  give  a 
fictitious  value  to  the  horse  as  they  do  to  the  dog, 
the  canary,  the  rose,  the  dahlia,  or  the  tulip. 

Let  the  medical  and  surgical  treatment  of  the 
horse  be  left  to  those  who  have  been  trained  in  an 
acknowledged  veterinary  college,  and  who  can  pro- 
duce the  diploma  which  testifies  to  their  scientific 
and  practical  capability.  Nowhere  do  I  presume  to 
instruct  the  veterinary  surgeon.  On  the  contrary, 
I  urge,  throughout  the  work,  that  no  one  ought  to 
be  allowed  to  administer  the  mildest  of  drugs,  or  to 
perform  the  slightest  of  operations,  unless  he  be 
legally  qualified  to  do  so. 

Throughout  the  work  I  draw  a  parallel  between 
the  horse  and  the  steam-engine,  and  try  to  show  that 
those  who  have  the  management  of  the  former  or 
the  latter  will  be  adapted  to  their  task  in  proportion 
to  their  knowledge.  It  is  not  needful  that  this  know- 
ledge should  comprise  those  details  which  belong  to 
pure  science. 

There  is  not  the  least  necessity  that  an  engine- 
driver  should  be  learned  in  the  chemical  constituents 
of  the  metals  of  which  the  engine  is  constructed,  of 
the  fuel  which  is  consumed,  or  of  the  water  which 
is  converted  into  steam. 


INTRODUCTION.  XV11 

But  it  is  necessary  for  an  efficient  engine-driver 
to  know  the  amount  of  strain  which  iron,  steel,  bell- 
metal,  and  brass  can  bear,  and  why  these  metals 
should  be  used  in  their  respective  places.  It  is 
necessary  that  he  shall  be  able  to  distinguish  the 
different  qualities  of  coal,  and  to  know  how  much 
steam  can  be  raised  by  a  given  quantity  of  fuel. 

'  Engine  and  man,'  in  fact,  must  go  together,  and 
so  must '  horse  and  man.'  Therefore,  the  reader  will 
not  find  his  time  wasted  by  anatomical  minutige  which 
do  not  bear  on  the  practical  management  of  the 
horse,  and  I  have  contented  myself  with  slightly 
describing  the  general  structure  of  the  animal,  and 
giving  such  details  of  the  foot,  hoof,  neck,  lungs,  and 
stomach  as  ought  to  be  known  by  every  one  who 
possesses,  or  has  the  management  of,  a  horse. 

In  civilised  countries,  horse  and  man  are  inse- 
parable. Neither  can  exist  without  the  other,  and 
each  owes  a  duty  to  the  other.  Take  any  large  city, 
deprive  the  horse  of  the  services  of  man,  and  in  a 
fortnight  at  the  most  not  a  horse  would  be  left  alive. 
In  the  same  city,  deprive  the  man  of  the  services  of 
the  horse,  and  he  would  lose  much  of  his  civilisation, 
being  forced  to  work  with  his  body  instead  of  his 
mind. 

There  is,  however,  one  fundamental  distinction 


XV111  INTRODUCTION. 

between  the  two  beings.  Man  has  his  choice  of 
action,  whereas  the  horse  has  none,  so  that  the  chief 
responsibility  is  thrown  upon  man.  Man  can  teach 
the  horse,  but  the  horse,  unfortunately  for  itself, 
cannot  teach  man. 

Each  owes  a  duty  to  the  other. 

Man  is  bound  to  afford  to  the  horse  the  food  and 
shelter  which  it  needs,  and  which  it  cannot  pro- 
cure without  his  aid.  On  the  other  side,  in  return 
for  its  means  of  existence,  the  horse  is  bound  to  give 
to  man  the  benefit  of  its  labour.  In  the  following 
pages  I  have  endeavoured  to  show  how  horse  and 
man  can  be  fellow-workers  instead  of  master  and 
slave,  how  the  life  of  the  horse  can  be  prolonged  as 
much  as  possible,  and  how  the  animal  can  be  enabled 
to  do  the  maximum  of  work  during  its  lifetime. 


HOESE    and    MAN. 


CHAPTER   I. 

The  hoof  as  distinct  from  the  foot — Dependence  of  one  part  on  the 
others — Skeleton  of  the  horse — Story  of  '  Orlando ' — Use  of  scientific 
language — The  spine  and  the  limbs — The  legs  of  the  horse  com- 
pared with  the  limbs  of  man — Gradual  development  of  the  horse — 
The  anchitherium  and  hipparion — Structure  of  the  fore-limb,  or  arm 
— Rotation  of  the  fore-arm  prevented — Small  size  of  the  original 
horse — An  eight-hoofed  horse — Hind  legs  of  the  horse  compared 
with  the  legs  of  man — The  true  knee  of  the  horse — Elasticity  of  the 
structure. 

We  will  begin  with  the  foot.  This  may  seem  simple 
enough,  but  it  is  really  a  question  of  great  com- 
plexity. 

In  the  first  place  I  suppose  that  at  least  ninety- 
nine  persons  out  of  a  hundred  take  for  granted  that 
the  hoof  and  the  foot  are  identical,  and  that  the 
former  is  a  solid  lump  of  hard  horn,  upon  which 
an  iron  shoe  can  be  nailed,  in  order  to  protect  it 
against  artificial  roads.  They  also  have  a  vague 
idea  that  the  hoof  is  an  isolated  portion  of  the  horse's 
frame,  and  has  no  definite  connection  with  any  other 
part. 

B 


Z  HOKSE   AND    MAX. 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  the  hoof  is  not  the  foot, 
but  only  the  extremity  of  a  portion  of  the  foot.  In 
the  second  place,  instead  of  being  a  lump  of  horn, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  elaborate  pieces  of  mechanism 
in  the  whole  of  the  animal  kingdom.  In  the  third 
place,  it  is  an  integral  portion  of  an  entire  and 
symmetrical  organisation  ;  each  part  being  connected 
with  and  dependent  upon  all  the  others,  and  all 
subservient  to  the  great  object  of  procuring  food. 

No  one  part  could  be  altered  without  changing 
all  the  others.  To  put  an  extreme  case  : — Suppose 
that  the  teeth  of  the  horse  were  exchanged  for  those 
of  the  lion,  the  hoof  would  be  useless,  as  it  could 
not  secure  living  prey.  The  stomach  would  be  use- 
less, because  it  would  be  incapable  of  digesting  raw 
flesh,  and  the  teeth,  from  their  structure,  would  be 
unable  to  masticate,  and  therefore  could  not  chew 
grass. 

Conversely,  if  the  hoof  were  exchanged  for  lion's 
paws  and  talons,  they  would  be  quite  unsuited  to  the 
pastures  in  which  the  horse  finds  its  food,  and  so  the 
teeth  would  have  to  be  altered. 

Now  let  us  see  what  is  the  general  structure  of 
the  horse,  and  what  relationship  is  borne  to  it  by 
the  hoof.  The  accompanying  illustration  represents 
the  bony  framework  of  the  horse.  It  was  drawn 
from    the    skeleton     of    the    celebrated    racehorse 


SKELETON   OF   THE    HORSE. 


'Orlando,'  who  won  the  Derby  in    1844,   the  year 
of  the  famous  '  Eunning  Eein '  swindle. 


As  the  details  of  this  race  may  not  be  familiar  to 
the  present  generation,  I  will  briefly  mention  them. 


B  2 


4  H0E5E   AXD    MAN. 

Most  people  know  that  the  '  Derby '  is  intended 
for  three-year-old  animals,  although  a  French 
writer  does  tell  us  that  a  certain  horse  won  the 
Derby  three  times  successively.  Among  the  horses 
which  were  entered  was  one  called  '  Eunning  Eein.' 
For  that  animal,  a  four-year-  old  horse  called  '  Mac- 
cabams '  was  substituted  under  the  same  name,  and 
won  the  race.  The  fraud,  however,  was  discovered, 
and  great  scandal  arose  in  consequence.  The  result 
was  that  '  Haccabaeus  '  was  disqualified,  and  the  race 
was  awarded  to  '  Orlando,'  who  ran  second.  (Paren- 
thetically I  take  the  opportunity  of  wishing  that 
two  years  could  be  added  to  the  age,  a  mile  to  the 
course,  and  considerable  addition  made  to  the  weight.) 

The  skeleton  is  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal 
College  of  Surgeons,  and,  like  many  other  figures  in 
this  work,  was  drawn  by  the  kind  permission  of  Pro- 
fessor \Y.  H.  Flower,  of  the  British  Museum,  who 
was  then  curator  of  the  wonderful  museum  in  Lin- 
coln's Inn  Fields,  and  to  whom  I  return  most  cordial 
thanks  for  his  kindly  assistance. 

We  will  first  take  a  general  survey  of  the  skeleton, 
and  then  review  each  part  in  detail. 

I  shall  in  the  course  of  this  work  avoid  as  far 
as  possible  the  use  of  purely  scientific  language.  It 
is  not  written  for  pupils  of  the  Pioyal  Veterinary 
College,    nor    for    persons    skilled    in    comparative 


SCIENTIFIC    TERMS.  0 

anatomy.  It  is  intended  for  the  use  of  all  those  who 
possess  or  who  have  charge  of  horses,  and  therefore 
will  be  couched  in  lan^ua^e  which  can  be  understood 
by  all  persons  of  ordinary  education. 

Scientific  terms,  however,  cannot  be  entirely 
ignored  in  anatomy  any  more  than  in  other  subjects. 

For  example,  it  would  be  impossible  to  give  the 
most  superficial  idea  of  the  carpenter's  art  without 
employing  such  terms  as  {  mortice,'  ;  tenon,'  '  rabbet- 
ing,' '  mitre,'  and  a  hundred  other  technical  words. 
Similarly,  nautical  terms  are  quite  unintelhgible  to 
an  ordinary  landsman,  and  yet  it  would  be  impossible 
to  work  a  ship,  or  even  to  sail  a  five-ton  cutter, 
without  knowing  the  meaning  of  such  expressions  as 
'luff,''  'jibe,'  '  topping  lift,'  -port,'  ;  starboard,'  'wear,' 
'in  stays.'  &c. 

So,  in  describing  the  structure  of  the  horse,  many 
technical  words  must  be  employed,  but  in  every  case 
they  will  be  fully  explained  when  first  used. 


I  will  now  ask  the  reader  to  examine  the  skeleton 
in  general.  All  vertebrates  are  constructed  on  the 
same  principle  ;  modified,  or  '  differentiated'  in  detail 
according  to  the  life  which  the  animal  is  intended 
to  lead.     The  only  essential  skeleton  of  a  vertebrate 


6  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

animal  consists  of  a  skull  followed   by  a  series  of 
vertebras. 

Limbs  are  only  appendages ;  many  vertebrates, 
such  as  the  generality  of  the  snake  tribe,  not  possess- 
ing them.  Even  ribs  are  not  necessary  for  existence, 
as  we  see  is  the  case  with  the  frogs,  in  which  animals 
the  ribs  are  totally  absent.  So,  following  the  order 
of  nature,  we  will  first  take  the  skull  and  vertebras. 

A  represents  the  skull  itself,  b  is  the  eye-hole 
{orbit),  c  is  the  upper  jaw  (superior  maxillary),  d  are 
the  nasal  bones — i.e.  the  bones  of  the  nose,  e  is  the 
lower  jaw  (inferior  maxillary),  e  is  the  ear-hole  (audi- 
tory foramen). 

As  to  the  teeth,  the  reader  will  observe  that  there 
is  a  considerable  gap  between  the  canine  teeth,  or 
1  tusks,'  and  the  molars,  or  grinders.  Were  it  not  for 
this  gap,  the  bit  could  not  be  inserted  in  the  mouth, 
and  man  would  lose  his  most  powerful  means  of 
guiding  the  animal. 

B  comprises  the  neck  bones  (nuchal  or  cervical 
vertebras).  These  are  always  seven  in  number  in  the 
mammalia,  no  matter  what  the  length  of  the  neck 
may  be.  Whether  the  neck  may  belong  to  the  giraffe, 
which  feeds  on  tree-leaves  eighteen  feet  from  the 
ground,  or  whether  it  be  the  property  of  the  whale, 
which  has  no  perceptible  neck  at  all,  the  nuchal 
vertebra?  are  seven  in  number.     In  the  former  animal 


VERTEBRAE.  7 

they  are  greatly  elongated,  while  in  the  latter  they 
are  flattened  and  fused  together.  Those  of  the  horse 
are  intended  to  give  flexibility  to  the  neck,  and  to 
assist  in  '  clothing  it  with  thunder.' 

The  vertebra  marked  /  is  called  the  '  atlas,'  be- 
cause in  man  this  vertebra  supports  the  head,  as  the 
mythical  giant  Atlas  was  said  to  support  the  earth  ; 
while  g  is  called  the  '  axis,'  because  it  is  so  con- 
structed as  to  enable  the  animal  to  turn  its  head. 

These  seven  vertebras  are  represented  on  a  larger 
scale  in  the  illustration  on  page  8.  The  reader 
will  observe  that  the  bones  are  furnished  with  pro- 
jections. These  are  intended  partly  for  the  attach- 
ment of  the  muscles,  and  partly  for  the  branches  of 
the  great  ligament  that  runs  over  the  back  of  the 
neck  and  supports  the  head.  This  ligament  and  its 
attachments  will  be  seen  when  we  treat  of  the  neck 
in  connection  with  the  bearing  rein. 

Next  come  the  eighteen  vertebras  of  the  back,  or 
'  dorsal '  vertebras,  each  having  a  long  flattened  pro- 
cess. The  reader  will  notice  that  some  of  these 
processes  lean  backwards,  while  others  are  directed 
forwards.  Between  them  are  several  which  are  up- 
right, and  upon  them  is  the  proper  place  for  the 
saddle. 

Then  there  are  the  six  vertebras  of  the  loins 
{lumbar  vertebrce),  followed  by  six   vertebras  called 


8 


HORSE    AND   MAN. 


'  sacral.'  They  are  fused  together,  and  are  termed 
the  '  sacrum.'  To  this  portion  of  the  spine  the  hip, 
or  '  pelvic,'  bones  are  attached. 


VERTEBRA   OE  NECK. 


Lastly,  come  the  vertebrae  of  the  tail,  or  '  caudal ' 
vertebras.     These  are  rather  variable  in  number,  but 


on  the  average  are  fifteen. 


THE    FORE-LIMBS.  \) 

Now  we  will  take  the  appendages  of  the  vertebras. 

In  front  of  the  body  is  the  breast-bone,  or  'sternum/ 
The  ribs  are  divided  into  two  sets.  First  come  the 
'  true  ribs,'  which  are  connected  directly  with  the 
sternum,  and  then  come  the  '  false  ribs,'  which  are 
indirectly  connected  with  the  sternum  by  gristle  (or 
cartilage). 

Lastly  we  come  to  the  limbs.  They  are  formed 
of  the  same  bones  as  those  which  constitute  the  arms 
and  legs  of  man,  but  as  they  are  intended  to  perform 
different  offices,  the  bones  are  greatly  modified  in 
structure. 

We  will  begin  with  the  fore- leg,  which  is  analo- 
gous to  the  arm  of  man.  First  comes  the  shoulder- 
blade  (scapula),  which,  except  that  it  is  much  longer 
in  proportion  to  its  width,  is  not  very  different  from 
that  of  man.  But,  in  proportion  as  we  pass  from  the 
shoulder  to  the  toe,  we  shall  find  the  modifications 
of  form  more  and  more  strongly  marked.  So,  the 
upper  arm-bone  (humerus)  is  very  different  from  that 
of  man. 

"With  man,  the  whole  weight  of  the  body  is 
supported  on  the  hinder  hmbs,  the  arms  being  set 
free  for  particular  purposes.  The  humerus  of  man, 
therefore,  is  long,  and  comparatively  slight.  But 
such  a  bone  would  be  absolutely  useless  in  a  horse, 
where  it  has  to  bear  the  weight  of  the  fore-part  of 


10 


HOESE   AND    MAN. 


the  body,  plus  the  heavy  neck  and  head,  and  would 
inevitably  be  shattered  at  the  first  leap. 

Therefore,  the  humerus  of  the  horse  (see  J  in  the 
figure)  is  short,  thick,  and  set  in  a  sloping  direction, 
so  as  to  avoid  a  direct  shock  as  the  animal  alights  from 
its  leap.  The  reader  will  notice 
that  the  lower  end  of  this  bone 
is  enlarged,  expanded,  and  very 
deeply  grooved. 

Next  come  the  two  bones  of 
the  fore-arm,  k  being  the  large 
bone  (radius),  and  L  the  small 
bone  (ulna).  Both  terms  are  Latin, 
the  former  signifying  the  spoke  of 
a  wheel,  and  the  latter  an  arm. 

Here  is  a  bolder  modification 
than  in  the  humerus. 

It  is  necessary  for  man  that 
he  should  be  able  to  rotate  the 
hand,  and  therefore  the  two  arm- 
bones  are  free  at  their  extremities,  and  so  constructed 
that  they  can  partially  roll  over  each  other.  But, 
for  the  hand  of  the  horse  to  be  capable  of  rotation 
would  be  an  element  of  weakness,  and  therefore  the 
bones  are  so  modified  that  they  can  only  be  moved 
directly  backwards  and  forwards.  The  ulna,  there- 
fore, is  very  much  reduced   in  size,   and  does  not 


LEFT   ARM    (HUMAN.) 


THE    '  KXEE  '    OF   THE    HORSE.  11 

nearly  reach  to  the  lower  end  of  the  radius,  to  which 
it  is  fused  so  as  practically  to  form  a  single  bone. 
The  upper  end  is  prolonged,  flattened,  and  plays  in 
the  groove  at  the  lower  end  of  the  humerus,  so  that 
no  rotation  is  possible.  The  prolonged  portion  forms 
the  elbow  of  the  horse  {olecranon). 

In  order  to  show  this  structure  more  clearly,  the 
joint  is  given  on  a  much  larger  scale  on  page  12.  Here 
A  represents  the  lower  end  of  the  humerus  with  its 
double  head  and  central  groove ;  B  is  the  radius, 
and  c  the  ulna.  The  reader  will  here  see  how  it  is 
fused  into  the  radius,  and  how  its  flattened  prolonga- 
tion plays  up  and  down  in  the  groove.  D  is  the 
olecranon,  or  elbow. 

Descending  still  lower,  we  find  the  bones  of  the 
wrist  {carpus),  or  'knee'  as  it  is  popularly  called. 
These  are  much  the  same  as  those  of  the  human  wrist, 
except  that  they  are  simpler  in  structure. 

Now,  however,  we  find  a  most  radical  change. 
Compare  the  bones  of  the  human  hand  with  those  of 
the  horse.  No  resemblance  seems  at  first  sight  to 
exist  between  them ;  yet  we  know  that,  different  as 
they  may  seem,  they  are  composed  of  the  same 
elements.  In  order  to  solve  this  problem  we  must 
have  recourse  to  geology  and  comparative  anatomy. 

The  former  science  shows  us  that  the  horse  of  the 
present  period  is  the  last  of  a  long  series,  extending 


12 


HOKSE    AND    MAN. 


through  successive  geological  epochs  and  undergoing 
determinate  modifications,  so  as  to  bring  it  in  accord 
with  its  surroundings.  Five  or  six  links  of  this  chain 
have  already  been  discovered,  and  in  all  probability 
others  will  come  to  light.  I  shall  only  mention  three 
of  these  links. 


ELBOW,   NEAR   FORE-LEG    (SEEN   FROM   RIGHT   SIDE). 

The  reader  may  have  been  struck  with  the  fact 
that  the  number  of  toes  on  the  foot  of  a  mammal 
is  exceedingly  variable,  but  yet  has  certain  limits. 
Some,  like  man,  have  five  toes  or  lingers  [phalanges) 
on  each  extremity,  while  others,  like  the  horse,  have 
only  one.  Except  by  occasional  monstrosity  there 
are  never  more  than  five  phalanges,  while  the  animals 


A   FIVE-TOED    HORSE. 


13 


sometimes  have  two,  three,  or  four,  as  the  case  may 
be.  In  some,  as  in  the  tapirs,  there  are  four  toes  on 
the  front  feet  and  only  three  on  the  hind  limbs. 

A  comparison  of  the  hand  of  man  with  that  of  the 
horse  seems  quite  absurd,  and  yet  it  becomes  simple 
and  intelligible  when  systematically  carried  out.    The 


,-D 


ELBOW,   NEAR   FORE-LEG    (SEEN  FROM   LEFT   SIDE). 

reader  must  carefully  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  the 
so-called  knee  of  the  horse  is  really  the  wrist,  and 
that  the  rest  of  the  hmb  is  really  the  modified  hand.' 
The  earliest  horse  known  to  geologists  had  five 
toes  or  fingers.  It  was  quite  a  little  creature,  scarcely 
larger  than  an  ordinary  terrier  dog.  Then  there 
came  an  animal  in  which   the   characteristics  of  the 


14 


HOESE   AND    MAN. 


horse  are  much  more  strongly  developed.  It  is 
appropriately  named  the  Anchitherium — i.e.  the 
creature  approaching  the  horse.  In  this  animal 
there  were  apparently  three  toes,  all  resting  on  the 
ground,  and  the  other  two  almost  touching  it.  Next 
came  the  Hipparion — i.e.  an  animal  almost  a  horse. 


LEFT   FOOT   OF   ANCHITHEEIUM.        LEFT   FOOT   OF   HIPPARION". 


This  creature  had  still  the  three  toes,  but  only  the 
central  toe  rested  on  the  ground,  the  others  being 
drawn  upwards 

I  intentionally  used  the  word  '  apparently ' 
when  describing  the  toes  of  the  anchitherium,  and 
for  the  following  reason.     Let  the  reader  again  look 


THE    PASTERN. 


15 


at  the  bones  of  a  man's  hand.  Starting  from  the 
wrist  are  five  bones,  called  the  '  metacarpals  ' — i.e. 
following  the  carpus,  or  wrist.  Suppose  we  call  the 
thumb  (as  it  really  is)  the  first  finger,  we  find  that 
in  many  animals  the  third  and  fourth  metacarpals 
are  fused  together,  either  partially  or  completely. 
In  the  modern  horse  they  are  fused  (anchylosed)  so 
completely,  that  it  is  not  easy  to  detect  the  fact  that 
they  are  really  two  bones.  But, 
in  the  hipparion  the  line  of 
junction  is  manifest,  and  still 
more  so  in  the  anchitherium. 
A  similar  line  of  junction  may 
be  seen  in  the  very  familiar 
bones  of  the  oxen  and  sheep. 

In  these  latter  creatures, 
however,  the  third  and  fourth 
phalanges  diverge,  so  as  to  pro- 
duce the  cloven  hoof,  but  in  the 

Horse  tribe  the  phalanges,  as  well  as  the  metacarpals, 
are  fused  together,  so  as  to  form  a  series  of  single 
bones,  as  here  shown.  Here  B  represents  the  first  of 
the  three  finger  joints,  and  is  popularly  called  the 
Long  Pastern  bone,  c  is  the  middle  joint,  and  is 
called  the  Short  Pastern,  while  the  last,  or  '  distal ' 
joint,  is  termed  the  Coffin  Bone.  How  these  bones  are 
connected  with  the  hoof  we  shall  see  on  a  future  page. 


FINGER   OR   PASTERN 
BONES. 


16  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

Now  we  can  find  a  clue  to  the  modification  of  the 
foot,  or  hand,  whichever  we  like  to  call  it.  The  long 
straight  bone  which  reaches  from  the  wrist  to  the 
pastern  ('  cannon,'  or  '  shank  bone,'  as  it  is  sometimes 
called)  is  formed  of  the  third  and  fourth  metacarpals 
fused  together.  But  what  has  become  of  the  rest  of 
the  hand  ?  Where  is  the  thumb  ?  What  has  been 
done  with  the  second  (index)  and  little  (fifth) 
fingers  ?  We  can  answer  these  questions  by  geology 
combined  with  comparative  anatomy. 

In  every  instance  where  the  phalanges  become 
rudimentary,  the  thumb  is  the  first  to  be  withdrawn. 
In  the  dog  and  cat,  the  thumb  is  familiar  to  all  as 
the  '  dew-claw.'  Now,  in  the  horse  tribe  the  thumb 
was  withdrawn  even  before  the  time  of  the  anchi- 
therium,  leaving  only  three  toes  (or  fingers)  capable 
of  resting  on  the  ground — i.e.  in  the  middle  were  the 
third  and  fourth  toes  fused  into  one,  and  on  either 
side  the  index  and  little  finger. 

In  the  hipparion  these  external  toes  are  partially 
rudimentary,  so  that  though  they  still  possess  hoofs, 
they  do  not  rest  on  the  ground,  and  are  as  useless  for 
walking  purposes  as  those  of  the  deer.  In  the  true 
horse,  as  we  now  know  the  animal,  these  external 
toes  have  become  perfectly  rudimentary.  There  is 
no  external  trace  of  them,  but  when  the  skin  is  re- 
moved from  the  horse's  shank  two  skewer-like  bones 


THE    ORIGINAL    HORSE  17 

are  seen,  one  on  each  side  of  the  cannon  bone.  These 
are  the  metacarpals  of  the  index  and  little  fingers, 
the  phalanges  having  disappeared  altogether,  and 
the  metacarpals  themselves  being  reduced  to  mere 
splinters  of  bone,  without  a  trace  of  a  joint  at  either 
end. 

I  may  here  mention  that  even  when  the  horse  did 
appear,  it  was  very  unlike  the  beautiful  animal  of  the 
present  day.  It  was  even  smaller  than  the  Shetland 
pony,  had  a  head  and  neck  very  large  in  proportion 
to  the  body,  a  coarse  and  heavy  mane,  and  was  alto- 
gether a  clumsy  sort  of  animal.  This  we  learn  from 
the  wonderful  engravings  upon  bone  or  antler  exe- 
cuted by  those  born  artists  the  Men  of  the  Caves. 
To  them  we  are  indebted  for  portraits  of  the  mam- 
moth, deer,  horses,  and  other  animals,  drawn  with  a 
freedom,  a  truth,  a  vigour,  and  a  fire  of  which  our 
best  animal  artists  might  be  proud. 

The  various  breeds  of  horses  which  we  possess  at 
the  present  day  are,  so  to  speak,  artificial,  and  are  due 
to  the  constant  influence  of  man.  When  deprived  of 
this  influence,  they  soon  display  a  tendency  to  retro- 
grade to  the  ancient  type,  their  bodies  and  limbs 
gradually  dwindling,  but  their  heads  remaining  of 
their  original  size. 

Every  now  and  then  a  horse  is  born  which  ex- 
hibits traits  of  its  ancestry,  just  as  fancy  rabbits  of 

c 


18  HORSE   AXD    MAX. 

the  purest  lineage  are  apt  to  produce  young  which 
can  hardly  be  distinguished  from '  the  semi-wild 
rabbits  of  our  warrens.  In  point  of  size,  the  beauti- 
ful little  pony  '  Lady  Jumbo,'  which  was  exhibited  in 
1882,  afforded  a  good  example  of  the  primitive  horse. 
When  shown  at  Islington  she  was  only  thirty  inches 
in  height,  and  was  brought  from  the  London  Bridge 
Station  to  Islington  inside  a  four-wheel  cab. 

Sometimes  a  horse  is  born  with  three  toes  on  one 
foot.  In  the  autumn  of  1883,  while  staying  in  Boston, 
Mass.,  I  saw  a  horse  with  eight  hoofs,  the  second 
(i.e.  the  fore-finger)  phalanges  being  almost  as  perfectly 
developed  as  the  third  and  fourth.  The  supplemen- 
tary hoof,  although  it  did  not  quite  reach  the  ground, 
was  nearly  as  large  as  the  actual  hoof.  Unfortunately 
— so  are  we  swayed  by  custom — the  owner  had  shod 
all  the  hoofs  alike,  a  piece  of  barbarism  which  I  lost 
no  time  in  denouncing. 

Now  we  will  turn  to  the  hind  limbs  Here  we 
find  almost  a  repetition  of  the  fore  limbs,  but  the 
joints  are  differently  arranged. 

Instead  of  the  blade  bone  there  is  the  hip  bone, 
or  '  pelvis,'  marked  o  in  the  illustration. 

Then  comes  the  thigh  bone  [femur)  in  place  of 
the  humerus.  Here,  again,  a  long  and  slender  thigh 
bone  would  be  a  source  of  weakness  to  the  animal, 


THE    HIND    LIMBS.  19 

and  so,  like  the  humerus,  it  is  shortened,  thickened, 
and  is  set  at  a  slope,  so  as  to  avoid  a  direct  shock 
to  it. 

Next  we  come  to  the  real  knee  of  the  horse — a 
joint  which  is  professionally  called  the  '  stifle,'  why, 
I  cannot  imagine.  This  joint  being  the  knee,  there 
is  a  knee  cap  [patella],  which  performs  the  same 
office  for  the  horse  that  it  does  for  us.  Dislocation 
of  the  patella  is  even  more  common  with  horses  than 
with  man,  but  fortunately  can  be  reduced  more  easily, 
and  does  not  leave  such  persistent  weakness. 

After  the  thigh  bone  come  the  two  bones  of  the 
lower  leg — the  '  tibia  '  and  '  fibula.'  Both  words 
are  Latin  ;  the  former  signifying  a  flute,  and  the  other 
a  buckle,  or  rather  the  tongue  of  a  buckle.  With 
us,  they  are  popularly  known  as  the  large  and  small 
leg  bones. 

Next  comes  the  ankle  {tarsus),  popularly  called 
the  '  hock.'  As  in  the  wrist,  so  in  the  ankle,  the 
bones  are  not  unlike  those  of  men.  The  heel-bone, 
however,  is  longer,  as  it  has  to  afford  leverage  to 
the  great  heel  sinew  or  tendon  (tendo  Achillis),  the 
severance  of  which  is  called  '  houghing,'  and  lames 
for  life  either  man  or  beast. 

Just  as  in  the  fore-limb  the  metacarpals  are 
rudimentary,  with  the  exception  of  the  third  and 
fourth  which  are  fused  into  a   single  bone,  so  it  is 

c  2 


20 


HORSE    AND    MAN. 


with  the  '  metatarsals '  of  the  horse — marked  T  in  the 
illustration — which  correspond  with  the  bones  form- 
ing the  instep  of  man.  Similarly,  the  phalanges,  or 
toes,  have  totally  vanished,  except  those  which  belong 

to  the  cannon  bone,  and,  like 
the  metatarsals,  are  fused  into 
single  bones. 

Thus,  from  the  so-called 
'  knee  '  to  the  end  of  the  fore 
limb  is  the  real  hand  of  the 
horse,  and  from  the  hock  to 
the  end  of  the  hind  limb  is  the 
true  foot,  the  horse  walking 
on  the  tips  of  the  third  and 
fourth  fingers  of  the  hand, 
and  on  the  tips  of  the  third 
and  fourth  toes  of  the  foot. 

Before  leaving  the  skeleton 
for  the  present,  I  wish  to  call 
the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  mode  in  which  the 
joints  of  the  limbs  work. 

The  humerus  is  directed  backwards,  while  the 
femur  slopes  forward.  Consequently,  when  the 
animal  moves,  the  elbow  and  stifle  (the  real  knee), 
which  are  on  a  level  with  each  other,  bend  towards 
each  other.  Then,  the  two  next  joints — i.e.  the  so- 
called   knee    and    the    hock — bend  away  from  each 


left  les  and  pelvis 
(human). 


COLOURED   DIAGRAMS.  21 

other.  The  whole  structure,  together  with  the  angle 
of  the  pastern,  ensures  that  elasticity  which  is  so 
necessary  for  the  animal's  welfare. 

In  order  that  these  bones  may  be  the  better  im- 
pressed upon  the  mind,  I  strongly  recommend  the 
reader  to  colour  the  figure,  just  as  maps  are  coloured, 
for  the  purpose  of  making  them  more  easily  intelli- 
gible.    My  own  figure  is  coloured  as  follows  : — 

Taking  the  same  order  as  has  been  observed  in 
the  description,  the  skull  is  olive-green,  and  the 
lower  jaw  blackish-grey.  The  cervical  vertebrae  are 
yellow  ochre,  the  dorsal  vertebras  blue,  the  lumbar 
vertebras  red,  the  sacrum  brown,  and  the  tail  red. 

The  true  ribs  are  olive-green,  and  the  false  ribs 
purple.  As  for  the  limbs,  the  scapula  and  pelvis 
are  pink,  and  the  humerus  and  femur  olive-green. 
The  radius  and  tibia  are  yellow  ochre,  while  the 
ulna  and  fibula  are  red.  The  carpus  and  tarsus  are 
brown,  the  metacarpals  and  metatarsals  purple,  the 
splint  bones  scarlet,  and  the  phalanges  brown.  Of 
course,  the  darkened  bones  of  the  right  limbs  should 
be  left  uncoloured. 


22  HORSE  AND   MAN. 


CHAPTER  E. 

Connection  between  th8  foot  and  the  hoof — Extent  of  the  foot — What 
is  horn  ? — Original  dwelling-place  of  the  horse — Climbing  powers  of 
the  horse — Requisites  of  the  hoof — Strength,  because  it  has  to 
bear  the  weight  of  so  heavy  an  animal — Lightness,  lest  the  horse 
should  have  to  lift  needless  weight — The  'coffin  '  bone  and  its  struc- 
ture— Hardness,  to  endure  contact  with  bad  ground — Sharpness, 
round  edge  to  enable  the  horse  to  climb — Clinging,  to  suit  smooth 
and  slippery  ground — Self-repairing,  for  restoration  of  worn 
material:  the  wall,  frog,  and  sole — Structure  of  the  wall — The 
horny  laminae — Their  origin  and  mode  of  growth — Over-grown  hoofs 
— Elasticity  begins  with  angle  of  pastern — The  FROG,  its  position, 
structure,  and  office — Analogies  between  Nature  and  human  inven- 
tions— The  sole,  its  structure  and  double  office. 

Having  now  taken  a  comprehensive  glance  at  the 
skeleton  of  the  horse,  and  seen  the  relationship 
between  the  foot  and  the  animal,  we  will  go  into 
a  little  more  detail,  and  see  where  is  the  connection 
between  the  foot  and  the  hoof. 

The  popular  idea  on  this  subject  is  that  the  hoof, 
or  at  all  events  the  hoof  together  with  the  fetlock, 
is  the  foot ;  whereas,  as  we  have  seen,  the  foot  of  the 
fore-limbs  begins   at  the  so-called  knee,  and  that  of, 
the  hind  limbs  at  the  hock. 

The  hoof  is.  in  fact,  the  nail  of  the  finger  or  toe, 


THE    HOOF.  23 

enlarged  and  modified  to  perform  a  series  of  offices. 
In  material  and  position  it  is  identical  with  the  talon 
of  the  lion  or  tiger  and  the  claw  of  the  eagle.  It 
may  seem  strange  that  the  delicate  pinky  nail  of  a 
lady's  finger  should  be  one  and  the  same  with  the 
hoof  of  the  horse,  but  such  is  really  the  case. 

Now  for  the  structure  of  the  hoof,  or  nail,  of 
the  horse. 

Instead  of  being  a  mere  lump  of  horn,  it  is  a 
sort  of  horny  case,  or  box,  intended  to  protect  the 
sensitive  structure  which  it  surrounds.  The  offices 
which  it  serves  are  many,  though  several  of  those 
offices  are  practically  ignored  by  civilised  man. 

Indeed,  even  those  who  really  know  the  structure 
of  the  horse  have  made  the  most  curious  mistakes 
about  the  work  of  the  hoof.  One  writer  states  that 
the  horse  was  intended  to  live  on  moist  or  even 
marshy  land,  whereas  such  ground  is  the  very  worst 
for  the  hoof,  and  is  carefully  avoided  by  the  horse  when- 
ever it  can  find  hard  and  dry  ground  to  stand  upon. 

The  animal  always  instinctively  tries  to  find  a 
hard  surface  on  which  to  stand.  In  America  the 
'  mustangers ' — i.e.  the  men  who  get  their  living  by 
catching  and  training  the  mustangs,  or  wild  horses — 
invariably  choose  the  hardest  and  stoniest  places  lor 
the  '  corrals,'  in  which  they  keep  the  horses  until 
they  are  wanted. 


24  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

Another  writer  says  that  the  horse  was  intended 
to  live  on  level  pasture  land. 

Now,  it  is  admitted  that  Central  Asia  is  the 
original  home  of  the  horse,  and  that  the  animal  is 
not  very  likely  to  find  in  those  regions  either  marsh 
or  pasture  land.  In  point  of  fact,  the  horse  is 
intended  to  suit  a  very  wide  range  of  locality,  and 
to  be  equally  at  home  on  grass,  stony  ground,  or 
rocks.  A  familiar  instance  of  this  fact  may  be  found 
in  our  Exmoor  ponies.  They  have  ample  choice  of 
ground,  but  of  their  own  will  they  prefer  rough  and 
rocky  ground,  climbing  and  leaping  with  an  activity 
and  sure-footedness  that  is  hardly  surpassed  by  the 
goat  itself. 

A  curious  instance  of  this  capacity  occurred  to 
a  friend  of  mine,  a  mighty  Nimrod,  who  has  hunted  in 
many  parts  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa. 

He  was  stationed  with  his  regiment  in  India,  and 
was  fond  of  going  out  alone  to  hunt,  mounted  on 
a  little  Circassian  horse.  On  one  of  those  excursions 
he  lost  his  way,  and,  finding  himself  at  the  foot  of 
a  rocky  cliff,  determined  to  ascend  it  so  as  to  find 
his  bearings. 

So  he  dismounted,  and  began  to  climb  up  the 
rock,  leaving  the  horse  with  the  bridle  over  its  neck. 
These  horses  are  trained  to  stand  still  while  the  hunter 
goes  off  on  foot  in  search  of  his  game.     When  Col. 


CLIMBING    POWERS    OF   THE    HORSE.  25 

D had  mounted  about  half-way  up  the  precipice, 

he  heard  a  scrambling  sound  beneath  him,  and  on 
looking  down  saw  his  horse  in  the  act  of  following 
him. 

The  rock  was  very  steep,  but  the  horse  could 
climb  it  as  well  as  the  man.     There  was  one  part 

of  the  ascent  of  which  Col.  D sent  me  a  sketch. 

In  one  place  the  rock  projected  into  a  sort  of  buttress 
nearly  smooth  and  perpendicular,  and  it  was  neces- 
sary to  work  round  it  before  reaching  a  firm  foot- 
hold. A  narrow  ledge  ran  round  it,  just  wide  enough 
for  the  toes  to  rest  upon,  and,  by  means  of  clutching 
with  his  fingers  at  any  irregularity  of  the  face  of 
the  rock,  the  hunter  managed  to  work  his  way  round 
the  obstacle. 

To  his  great  astonishment,  he  saw  that  the  horse 
was  following  the  same  track  as  himself,  and  had  man- 
aged to  sidle  round  the  buttress  in  exactly  the  same 
manner.  The  horse  reared  itself  upright,  set  the 
toes  of  the  hind  feet  upon  the  narrow  ledge,  clung 
to  the  rock  with  the  sharp-edged  toes  of  the  fore 
feet,  and  so  contrived  to  achieve  the  dangerous  pas- 
sage.    Of  course  the  animal  was  unshod. 

An  admirable  example  of  climbing  power  pos- 
sessed by  the  unshod  horse  is  given  by  Lady  Florence 
Dixie,  in  her  work  '  Across  Patagonia.' 

'  Soon  our  horses  began  to  neigh  and  prick  up 


26  HOUSE   AND    MAN. 

their  ears  as  we  advanced  beyond  a  clearing.  Their 
cries  were  answered  from  somewhere  beyond  us,  and, 
pushing  forward  into  the  open,  we  came  upon  a  herd 
of  wild  horses,  who,  on  hearing  our  advance,  had 
stopped  grazing,  and  now  they  stood  collected  in  a 
knot  together,  snorting  and  stamping,  and  staring  at 
us  in  evident  amazement. 

'  One  of  their  number  came  boldly  trotting  out  to 
meet  us,  and  evidently  with  no  pacific  intentions ;  his 
wicked  eye  and  his  white  teeth,  which  he  had  bared 
fiercely,  looking  by  no  means  encouraging.  But 
suddenly  he  stopped  short,  looked  at  us  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  then,  with  a  wild  snort,  dashed  madly 
away,  followed  by  the  whole  herd. 

*  They  disappeared  like  lightning  over  the  brow 
of  a  deep  ravine,  to  emerge  again  on  our  view  after 
a  couple  of  seconds,  scampering  like  goats  up  its 
opposite  side,  which  rose  almost  perpendicular  to  a 
height  of  six  or  seven  hundred  feet.  They  reached 
its  crest  at  full  gallop  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  and, 
without  pausing  for  an  instant,  disappeared  again, 
leaving  us  wondering  and  amazed  at  their  marvellous 
agility. 

'  I  had  often  seen  their  paths  leading  up  hill-sides 
which  a  man  could  scarcely  climb,  but,  till  now  that 
I  had  witnessed  a  specimen  of  their  powers  with  my 
own  eyes,  I  had  scarcely  been  able  to  believe  them 


QUALITIES   OF   THE    HOOF.  27 

possessed    of  a   nimbleness   and    cleverness   of  foot 
which  would  not  discredit  a  chamois.' 

Here  are  some  of  the  offices  which  have  to  be 
performed  by  the  horse's  hoof,  together  with  the 
reasons  for  those  offices. 

The  horse  is  a  very  heavy  animal,  and  therefore 
the  hoof  which  carries  that  weight  must  be  strong. 

Strength  might  be  obtained  by  solidity,  but 
solidity  would  involve  weight,  so  that  the  horse 
would  have  to  lift  several  ounces  each  time  that 
he  made  a  step.  This  may  not  seem  very  much 
in  detail,  but  in  the  aggregate  it  is  very  considerable 
indeed. 

Moreover,  the  power  which  is  required  to  raise 
the  foot  is  very  much  in  excess  of  the  weight  to  be 
lifted.  The  hoof  is  at  the  extremity  of  a  long  lever, 
the  power  of  which  is  applied  at  the  end  of  the 
shorter  arm,  so  that,  as  has  been  roughly  calculated, 
an  ounce  on  the  hoof  is  equivalent  to  a  pound  on 
the  back.  The  horse  is  not  furnished  with  muscles 
fitted  for  lifting  heavy  weights  at  the  ends  of  its 
legs,  and  therefore  the  foot  is  carefully  made  as 
light   as   possible.      The   hoof,    therefore,    must    be 

LIGHT. 

It  must  be  hard,  so  as  to  endure  contact  with 
sharp-edged  rock,  a  sun-baked  soil,  or  loose  stones. 


28  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

It  must  be  elastic,  in  order  to  obviate  the  jar 
which  would  be  caused  by  the  concussion  of  a  hard 
and  unyielding  substance  with  the  hard  and  un- 
yielding ground. 

It  must  be  sharp-edged,  to  give  the  animal  a 
footing  on  rocks  or  uneven  ground. 

It  must  be  clinging,  so  as  to  save  the  horse  from 
falling  on  a  wet,  slippery,  or  frozen  surface. 

Lastly,  as  the  hoof  must  be  perpetually  worn 
away,  it  must  be  capable  of  self  eepair  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  loss  of  material.  All  these  appa- 
rently conflicting  characteristics  are  to  be  found  in 
the  hoof  of  the  horse  in  its  natural  state,  and  there 
is  not  one  of  them  which  man  does  not  impair,  or 
actually  annul,  in  his  attempts  to  improve  upon  nature. 

The  provisions  for  combining  lightness  with 
strength  begin  with  the  bones.  In  order  to  support 
the  large  hoof,  it  is  necessary  that  the  terminal,  or 
4  coffin  '  bone  should  be  enlarged.  If,  however,  this 
bone  were  solid,  several  ounces  would  be  added  to 
the  weight.  It  is,  therefore,  made  of  a  '  cancellous ' 
structure — i.e.  somewhat  sponge-like  in  appearance. 
This  formation  is  evident,  even  from  the  outside,  but 
is  very  much  better  shown  by  making  a  section  of 
the  bone.  A  somewhat  similar  structure  may  be 
seen  in  the  skull  of  the  elephant,  where  size  has  to 
be  conjoined  with  lightness. 


THE   HORNY   LAMINA.  29 

There  is  now  before  me  the  coffin  bone  of  a  cart- 
horse. It  measures  nine  and  a  half  inches  round  the 
edge,  four  and  a  quarter  inches  across,  from  wing  to 
wing,  and  only  just  exceeds  four  ounces  in  weight. 

A  similar  principle  is  carried  out  in  the  hoof, 
but,  as  the  material  is  horn  and  not  bone,  it  must  be 
treated  in  a  different  manner. 

In  the  hoof  there  are  three  distinct  kinds  of  horn. 
Each  kind  is  secreted  from  a  different  source,  and 
is  perpetually  renewed  when  it  becomes  worn  out  or 
effete.  The  three  horns  are,  firstly,  the  outer  '  crust  ' 
or  '  wall  ; '  secondly,  the  '  frog,'  which  occupies  the 
centre  of  the  under  surface  of  the  hoof,  and  ought  to 
bear  the  weight  of  the  horse  when  it  first  sets  foot 
to  the  ground ;  and,  thirdly,  the  '  sole,'  which  con- 
nects the  frosr  with  the  wall. 

We  will  take  each  of  these  structures  separately. 

Even  the  wall  is  not  a  solid  piece  of  horn,  but 
is  made  of  a  great  number  of  very  thin  horny  plates 
called  '  laminae. '  These  laminas  are  shaped  like  knife- 
blades,  the  backs  being  very  much  thicker  than  the 
edges.  If  we  can  imagine  some  six  or  seven  hundred 
of  these  horny  blades  to  be  set  closely  side  by  side, 
their  backs  to  be  fused  together  and  their  edges  free, 
we  may  form  some  conception  of  this  portion  of  the 
hoof.  They  have  been  well  compared  to  the  gills 
of  a  mushroom. 


30 


HORSE   AND    MAN. 


These  laminae  are,  in  fact,  flattened  hairs,  and,  like 
all  hairs,  grow  from  their  roots,  which  may  be  found 
in  the  '  coronary  ring  '  which  surrounds  the  upper 
portion  of  the  hoof.  The  lamina?  which  form  the 
front  of  the  hoof  grow  much  more  rapidly  than  the 
others,  so  as  to  compensate  for  the  greater  wear 
and  tear  which  takes  place  on  the  toe  than  on  the 
1  heel,'  as  it  is  called. 


HOOF  OF  FALKLAND  ISLAND  HORSE 
(FRONT  AND  BACK  views). 

Therefore,  unless  the  front  of  the  hoof  be  regularly 
worn  away,  as  was  intended  by  the  Creator,  or  cut 
away  by  the  knife,  according  to  man's  ideas  of  im- 
proving on  nature,  it  grows  to  an  abnormal  length, 
and  prevents  the  animal  from  walking  in  a  natural 
manner. 

The  accompanying  illustration  represents  the  over- 
grown hoof  of  a  horse  which  had  lived  on  the  soft 
and  swampy  ground  of  the  Falkland  Isles,  and  which 


FKICTION   AND   THE    HOOF.  31 

was  therefore  unable  to  wear  away  the  hoof  by 
friction.  As  may  be  seen  from  the  illustration,  the 
hoof  had  curled  round  like  a  ram's  horn,  forcing  the 
animal  to  walk  on  the  side  of  the  hoof  and  not  on 
its  face.  As  to  the  frog  and  sole,  it  is  not  easy  to 
identify  them,  so  completely  are  they  enveloped  by 
the  overgrown  horn  of  the  wall. 

The  accompanying  illustration  is  drawn  from  a 
specimen  in  the  Museum  of  the  College  of  Surgeons. 
It  may  be  seen  among  the  series  of  epidermal 
appendages,  and  forms  a  good  reply  to  those  persons 
who  think  that  the  hoof  was  formed  for  marsh  v  ground. 

Should  the  reader  be  a  keeper  of  cage  birds, 
especially  canaries,  he  will  remember  that  both  the 
claws  and  beak  are  apt  to  be  overgrown  for  want  of 
the  friction  to  which  they  would  be  subjected  had 
the  bird  lived  a  natural  life.  Unless  both  beak  and 
claws  be  artificially  cut,  as  a  succedaneum  for  the 
natural  friction,  the  bird  will  be  greatly  incon- 
venienced, and  may  probably  die  from  inability  to 
procure  food. 

A  similar  result  of  overgrowth  for  lack  of  friction 
is  often  seen  in  rabbits,  mice,  rats,  and  other  rodent 
animals.  One  of  the  incisor  teeth  is  accidentally 
broken,  and  the  corresponding  tooth  of  the  opposite 
jaw  not  having  anything  to  rub  against,  continues 
to  grow  until  the  tooth  attains  an  astonishing  length. 


32  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

Those  of  the  lower  jaw  will  sometimes  curl  over  the 
top  of  the  head,  while  those  of  the  upper  jaw,  on 
account  of  the  greater  curvature  of  the  socket,  will 
continue  their  growth  until  they  form  a  perfect  ring. 
Examples  of  these  overgrowths  may  be  seen  in  the 
College  of  Surgeons. 

Eabbit- keepers  must  have  noticed  how  their  pets 
are  continually  moving  their  jaws  as  if  masticating 
something.  This  movement  so  closely  resembles  that 
of  ruminant  animals  when  they  chew  the  cud,  that 
the  Jews  of  old  times  took  for  granted  that  the 
hare  and  the  cony — i.e.  the  hyrax — chew  the  cud, 
whereas  they  only  rub  the  upper  and  lower  teeth 
against  each  other  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  the 
chisel-like  edge. 

Another  needful  characteristic  of  the  hoof  now 
comes  before  us.  In  order  to  avoid  jarring  the 
brain  and  spinal  cord  at  each  step,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  hoof  should  be  elastic. 

As  I  have  already  mentioned,  the  general  elasti- 
city of  the  whole  frame  is  largely  due  to  the  mode 
in  which  the  joints  of  the  limbs  are  made.  The 
peculiar  angle  at  which  the  fetlock  is  set  has  also  an 
influence  on  the  elasticity,  and  horsemen  are  well 
aware  that  when  the  pastern  is  too  upright  they  feel 
jarred  at  every  step. 


ANGLE    OF    THE    FETLOCK. 


I  always  endeavour  to  show  how  man's  inven- 
tions, especially  in  practical  mechanics,  have  their 
prototypes  in  nature.  If  the  reader  will  compare  the 
accompanying  illustration  with  the  fetlock  of  the 
horse  on  page  15,  he  will  see  that  the  angle  of  the 
connecting  piece  (marked  a')  is  almost  identical  with 
that  of  the  fetlock. 

But  something  more  than  the  mere  arrangement 
of  the  bones  is  required.  The  portion  of  the  hoof 
which  comes  first  to  the  ground  at  each  step  must 
be  elastic,  and  this  requirement  brings  us  to  one  of 


SIDE   BEARING    OF   RAILWAY    CARRIAGE. 

the  most  important  portions  of  the  horse's  hoof,  it 
being  the  chief  source  of  elasticity.  This  is  the  frog, 
so  called  because  when  untouched  by  the  knife  it 
really  bears  some  resemblance  to  a  crouching  frog. 

It  occupies  the  centre  of  the  lower  surface  of  the 
hoof,  and,  as  the  reader  may  see  from  the  accompany- 
ing illustration,  looks  something  like  the  letter  V. 
The  rounded  portions  at  the  ends  of  the  bars  are 
called  the  '  glumes,'  or  heels  of  the  frog. 

When  the  hoof  is  left  in  its  natural  form,  the 
frog  fills  up  a  considerable  portion  of  the  hoof.     It 

D 


34 


HORSE    AND    MAN. 


is  not  hard  like  the  wall,  which,  if  properly  treated, 
becomes  so  hard  that  a  knife  will  scarcely  touch  it, 
but  is  quite  soft  and  elastic,  feeling  when  handled 
much  like  vulcanised  indiarubber. 

As  the  horse  steps,  the  weight  first  comes  on  the 
hinder,  or  heel  portion  of  the  frog,  then  upon  its 
centre,  and  afterwards  upon  the  wall. 

Two  objects  are  fulfilled  by  this  structure.  Firstly, 
by  means  of  this  elastic  material  interposed  between 
the  horse  and  the  ground,  the 
animal  treads  softly,  and  does  not 
'jar'  the  body,  as  would  be  the 
case  if  the  bearing  came  first  on 
the  wall.  Horses  are  instinctively 
aware  of  this  fact,  and  when  at 
liberty  in  a  field  they  may  be 
seen  shuffling  about  in  order  to 
obtain  the  central  bearing,  for 
which  the  hoof  was  made. 

Acfain,  man  has  imitated  nature  in  artificial  loco- 
motion. 

In  many  forms  of  carriages,  especially  those  of 
railways,  the  weight'  rests  upon  the  central  portion 
of  the  springs,  as  seen  in  the  accompanying  illustra- 
tion. The  inventors  of  this  form  of  spring,  and  of 
the  diagonal  attachment  which  is  figured  on  page 
33,  were   probably   unaware    that    their  inventions 


UNSHOD  HOOF  OF  WILD 
HORSE. 


THE    'FROG.'  35 

had  been  anticipated  in  nature — not  only  for  many- 
years  before  carriages  were  invented,  but  many  ages 
before  man  could  have  existed. 

The  next  object  is  to  prevent  the  horse  from 
slipping  on  wet  or  smooth  surfaces.  For  this  object 
the  frog  is  wonderfully  adapted,  as  it  will  cling  to 
ice  or  a  wet  boulder,  and  enable  the  animal  to 
traverse  a  slippery  surface  with  perfect  freedom. 

When,  therefore,  the  hoof  of  an  unshod  horse 
comes  to  the  ground,  and  the  weight  of  the  animal 
rests  upon  it,  the  hoof  has  a  double  hold,  the  frog  in 


LTYJ 

CENTRAL   BEAKING   OF  RAILWAY   CARRIAGE. 

the  centre  clinging  like  indiarubber,  and  the  sharp- 
edged  wall  holding  to  the  least  roughness  or  irregu- 
larity. 

Like  the  wall,  the  frog  is  subject  to  perpetual 
wear,  and  therefore  must  be  perpetually  renewed. 
It  is  not,  however,  rubbed  down  by  friction,  as  is 
the  wall,  but  its  outer  portions  continually  become 
detached  in  little  loose  flaps,  which  hang  on  for  a 
time  and  then  break  away  altogether,  so  as  to  make 
way  for  the  fresh  material  which  has  been  formed 
above  them. 

d2 


36  HOKSE   AND    MAN. 

Lastly,  there  comes  the  sole,  which  binds  the 
frog  and  the  wall  together.  The  horn  of  which  this 
portion  of  the  hoof  is  made  is  very  different  from 
that  of  the  wall  or  the  frog.  It  is  formed  of  a  number 
of  extremely  hard  and  strong  horny  plates  laid  one 
above  the  other,  and  curved  so  as  to  form  a  sort  of 
dome  surrounding  both  sides  and  the  front  of  the 
frog.  The  sole  has  another  object  beside  connecting 
the  frog  and  the  wall.  It  is  intended  to  defend  the 
sensitive  parts  of  the  interior  hoof  from  stones,  sharp 
points  of  rocks,  and  so  forth.  When  the  sole  becomes 
worn  out,  it  has  the  faculty  of  reproducing  itself  in 
a  manner  quite  distinct  from  that  of  the  wall  and 
the  frog.  Instead  of  being  rubbed  away  by  friction 
like  the  former,  or  throwing  off  little  flaps  like 
the  latter,  it  exfoliates  in  flakes,  a  new  flake  being 
secreted  above  before  the  effete  one  falls  below. 

One  point  more  about  the  hoof  remains  to  be 
mentioned. 

As  the  horse  is  intended  by  nature  not  only  to 
go  on  level  ground  but  to  be  able  to  climb  rocks, 
it  is  necessary  that  the  edges  of  the  hoofs  should  be 
sharp  and  the  interior  slightly  concave.  It  must  be 
evident,  therefore,  that  if  the  edges  be  blunted  and 
flattened,  or,  still  worse,  if  they  be  rounded,  especi- 
ally at  the  toes,  one  function  of  the  hoof  cannot  be 
exercised. 


THE   THliEE   KINDS    OF   HORN.  37 

The  reader  will  now  see  that  these  three  kinds  of 
horn  work  with  each  other,  and  that  if  either  of  them 
be  removed  the  other  two  cannot  perform  their  tasks 
at  all,  and  that  if  one  be  even  injured,  the  others  are 
proportionately  weakened.  Each  of  these  points  will 
presently  be  considered  at  length,  but  I  have  thought 
it  better  to  begin  by  giving  the  reader  a  general 
idea  of  the  natural  hoof  and  its  structure.  At  all 
events,  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  the  hoof 
is  not  made  for  one  kind  of  ground  or  one  climate 
only,  but  is  capable  of  sustaining  the  animal  on  rock, 
marsh,  loose  stone,  or  ice. 

We  will  now  take  a  corresponding  view  of  the 
internal  structure  of  the  hoof. 


38  HORSE  AND   MAN. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

internal  structure  of  the  hoof — The  hoof  compared  with  the  Jacquard 
loom — Longitudinal  section  of  pastern — The  'navicular'  bone:  its 
origin,  form,  and  office — The  tendons — Flexor  and  extensor  muscles 
and  their  tendons — The  '  coronary  ring '  and  its  object — The  hoof 
of  the  horse  and  the  nail  of  man — The  '  quick '  of  the  nail — The 
'  sensitive '  or  '  vascular  '  laminae — Mutual  dependence  of  the  horny 
and  vascular  laminae — Analogy  of  laminae  of  whalebone  and  those  of 
hoof — Expansive  property  of  hoof — Mr.  Miles's  experiments — Advan- 
tage of  this  property  in  a  hunter — Effect  of  shoes  in  leaping — In  any 
pace  the  heel  comes  on  the  ground  before  the  toe — Importance  of 
this  fact. 

Throughout  the  whole  animal  kingdom  there  is, 
perhaps,  no  structure  which  is  more  elaborately 
intricate  than  that  of  the  internal  hoof. 

Yet,  intricate  as  it  may  be,  it  is  based  on  one 
leading  idea,  so  that  all  the  multitudinous  details 
subserve  one  single  purpose.  The  same  principle  is 
observed  in  many  of  the  complicated  machines 
invented  by  man.  Take,  for  example,  the  various 
modifications  of  the  Jacquard  loom,  especially  that 
form  which  produces  ribbons  into  which  various 
patterns  are  woven.  To  tlfe  novice,  nothing  looks 
more  hopelessly  elaborate  and    confusing,  while   to 


COMPLEX   SIMPLICITY  39 

the  skilled  weaver  nothing  can  be  simpler  or  more 
intelligible. 

There  are  hundreds  of  threads  crossing  and  re- 
crossing  each  other  in  apparently  hopeless  confusion. 
There  are  several  rows  of  little  shuttles,  each  fitted 
with  differently  coloured  silk.  There  are  slender 
rods  and  cranks,  and  over  all  this  mixture  of  brass, 
steel,  strings,  silks,  and  shuttles,  there  is  a  string  of 
cards  perforated  with  circular  holes,  each  turning 
over  as  the  shuttles  dart  from  one  side  of  the  machine 
to  the  other. 

If  these  parts  be  separated,  they  seem  to  have  no 
connection  with  each  other.  A  person  who  did  not 
understand  the  principles  of  the  machine  might  think 
that  you  were  joking  if  you  showed  him  the  string  of 
perforated  cards  and  a  patterned  ribbon,  and  told 
him  that  the  holes  on  the  cards  constituted  the 
original  pattern,  which  was  reproduced  in  a  different 
form  on  the  silk,  and  that  a  skilled  weaver  can  read 
off  one  from  the  other  as  a  linguist  can  read  English 
into  Greek,  or  vice  versd.  Yet  all  these  multitudi- 
nous details  are  arranged  by  one  master  mind,  and 
all  work  harmoniously  together  to  one  single  end. 

So  it  is  with  the  horse's  hoof. 

That  the  three  kinds  of  horn  of  which  the  external 
hoof  is  constructed  should  be  formed  so  as  to  act 
in  concert  with  the  infinitely  more  elaborate  internal 


40 


HORSE    AND    MAN". 


hoof,  seems  at  first  sight  as  incredible  as  that  the 
holes  in  the  cards  above  the  loom  contain  the  pattern 
which  the  machine  works  in  coloured  silks  below. 

Yet,  as  I  have  said,  the  manager  of  the  machine 
can  read  the  pattern  of  the  silk  in  the  cards,  and  he 
knows  that  if  only  a  single  card  were  to  be  removed, 
or  even  transposed,  or  a  hole  omitted,  the  pattern 


SECTION   OF   FETLOCK. 


would  be  imperfect.  Similarly,  those  who  know  the 
construction  of  the  hoof  are  perfectly  aware  that  all 
its  parts,  whether  external  or  internal,  are  dependent 
on  each  other,  and  that  an  injury  done  to  one  will 
affect  all  the  others. 

I  shall  now  endeavour  to  place  before  the  reader 
the  interior  of  the  hoof,  and  its  connection  with  the 


THE    'NAVICULAR'    BONE. 


41 


horny  covering   that  surrounds  it,  and  the  limb  of 
which  it  forms  the  extremity. 


The  accompanying  illustrations  represent  a  longitu- 
dinal section  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  horse's  foot. 

Beginning  as  before  with  the  bones,  A  is  the  lower 
part  of  the  cannon  bone,  or  metacarpal;  B  is  the 
Long  Pastern,  c  the  Short  Pastern,  and  D  the  Coffin 
Bone.     Another  bone,  shown  at  e,  now  comes  before 


FRONT   VIEW    OF   COFFIN   AND         BACK    VIEW    OP   COFFIN,    NAVICULAR, 
NAVICULAR   BONES.  AND   SHORT-PA SThRN   BONES. 

us.  It  is  quite  a  little  one,  but  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  the  hoof.  Its  scientific  name  is  the 
'Navicular'  bone.  The  word  is  Latin,  signifying  a 
little  ship  or  boat,  and  is  given  to  the  bone  because 
it  somewhat  resembles  a  birch-bark  canoe  in  shape. 
The  too-familiar  '  navicular  '  disease  originates  in  the 
structures  surrounding  this  bone.  Another  name  is 
the '  shuttle-bone.' 

As  the  section  on  page  40  does  not  give  any  idea 


42  HORSE  AND   MAN. 

of  the  true  shape  of  either  the  coffin  or  navicular 
bones,  two  views  of  each  are  here  presented. 

What  might  be  the  origin  of  this  bone  was  for 
some  time  a  matter  of  controversy.  It  was  long 
thought  to  be  a  modification  of  one  of  the  missing 
bones  of  the  foot,  but  is  now  known  to  be  a 
'  sesamoid '  bone.  There  are  many  of  these  bones, 
variously  formed  in  different  animals,  the  largest 
being  the  knee-cap,  or  '  patella.'  They  are  developed 
within  the  tendons,  and  derive  their  rather  fanciful 
name  from  their  usually  small  size,  together  with 
their  shape,  which  bears  some  resemblance  to  that  of 
the  sesame  seed. 

The  reader  will  see  that  the  navicular  lies  behind 
the  coffin  bone,  and  between  the  two  wings.  Its 
chief  object  is  to  act  as  a  pulley,  so  as  to  enable  the 
foot  to  be  bent,  or  '  flexed,'  with  greater  force. 

Another  sesamoid  bone,  performing  a  similar 
office,  may  be  seen  at  f,  just  at  the  end  of  the  cannon 
bone,  and  aids  in  producing  the  characteristic  pro- 
jection at  the  beginning  of  the  pastern.  At  T  is  seen 
the  fatty  cushion  of  the  pastern.  Its  structure  acts 
as  a  guard  to  the  delicate  machinery  of  the  sesamoid 
bone  and  tendon. 

We  are  now  led  to  another  element  in  the  horse's 
foot — namely,  the  tendons — i.e.  the  ligamentary 
bands  by  which  the  muscles  act  on  their  attachments. 


TENDONS.  43 

Whenever  a  limb  or  any  portion  of  the  body  has  to 
be  bent,  there  are  always  two  opposite  sets  of  muscles, 
one  called  the  '  flexors,'  because  they  bend  the  limb, 
and  the  other  '  extensors,'  because  they  straighten  it. 
As  a  rule,  the  former  are  far  more  powerful  than  the 
latter. 

This  we  may  see  exemplified  in  the  well-known 
schoolboy  experiment.  When  one  boy  presses  together 
the  tips  of  the  forefingers,  and  another  grasps  his 
wrists,  and  tries  to  pull  the  fingers  apart  at  right 
angles  to  the  body,  the  latter  cannot  succeed  unless 
he  be  very  much  bigger  and  more  powerful  than  the 
former.  The  reason  of  this  discrepancy  is,  that  the 
first  boy  uses  his  flexor  muscles,  while  the  second  boy 
employs  the  extensors.  A  very  familiar  example  of  a 
flexor  muscle  is  to  be  found  in  the  '  biceps,'  of  which 
an  athlete  is  apt  to  be  exceedingly  proud. 

The  tendons,  which  in  fact  surround  the  muscles 
as  a  thin  membrane,  and  are  brought  to  a  cord-like 
shape  at  the  extremities,  take  their  name  from  their 
muscles,  and  of  course  are  of  proportionate  strength. 
I  may  here  mention,  as  another  very  familiar  example, 
that  the  *  stringiness '  of  meat  is  due  to  the  thin  coat- 
ing of  tendon  which  envelopes  the  muscles. 

At  i  and  K  is  seen  the  double  flexor  tendon.  This 
ligament  divides  after  passing  over  the  sesamoid  bone 
of  the  fetlock,  the  front  portion  being  attached  to  the 


44  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

upper  part  of  the  short  pastern  bone,  and  the  other 
to  the  floor  of  the  coffin  bone,  after  passing  over  the 
navicular  bone.  This  tendon,  therefore,  twice  changes 
its  line,  each  time  gaining  an  increase  of  power. 

In  the  front  of  the  limb  runs  the  extensor  tendon. 
It  also  divides  into  two  portions,  one  being  attached 
to  the  short  pastern  bone  and  the  other  to  the  coffin 
bone.  These  two  tendons,  therefore,  or  rather  the 
muscles  to  which  they  are  attached,  would  continually 
pull  against  each  other  were  it  not  for  the  provision 
that  the  one  is  always  relaxed  in  proportion  as  the 
other  contracts.  At  h  is  shown  the  suspensory  liga- 
ment, the  name  of  which  indicates  its  use. 

These  tendons  and  their  attachment  can  readily 
be  observed  in  a  dried  specimen,  although  it  is  more 
satisfactory  to  study  them  from  the  recent  subject.  I 
have  now  before  me  a  section  of  a  pastern  which  was 
made  many  years  ago,  and  has  been  subjected  to  very 
hard  usage.  It  is,  however,  in  perfect  preservation, 
and,  unless  wilfully  damaged,  will  remain  unchanged 
for  centuries. 

I  recommend  the  reader  to  colour  all  these  ana- 
tomical illustrations,  every  one  of  which  has  been 
drawn  from  the  actual  object. 

At  s,  on  page  40,  is  shown  the  coronary  ring,  which 
secretes  the  horn  of  the  wall.  Being  extremely  vascular 
■ — i.e.  filled  with  arteries  and  veins,  it  shrivels  almost  to 


THE    VASCULAK   LAMINAE.  45 

nothing  after  the  death  of  the  animal,  and  in  a  dried 
specimen  there  is  only  a  space  to  show  where  the 
coronary  ring  has  been. 

At  m  is  shown  the  soft  frog,  which  is  guarded  by 
the  hard  or  exterior  frog,  which  is  seen  at  N.  This, 
however,  is  not  quite  large  enough.  The  draughts- 
man, who,  I  regret  to  say,  died  almost  suddenly  before 
the  series  of  drawings  was  completed,  could  not  obtain 
access  to  a  specimen  which  had  not  been  mutilated  by 
man,  and  therefore  had  to  draw  the  frog  as  he  saw  it. 

p  shows  the  internal  or  sensitive  sole,  and  o  the 
hard    or   .external    sole,   which 
has  already  been  mentioned.     E 
shows  the  wall  or  crust,  and  U  is 

tire  skin,  horny  laminae. 

Now  we  will   see   how  the 
sensitive  structures  are  connected  with  the  external 
hoof,  which,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  the  analogue 
of  the  human  nail. 

The  reader  will  remember  that  on  page  29  the  six 
hundred  lamina?  of  which  the  wall  is  composed  were 
compared  to  knife-blades,  the  edges  being  inwards. 
Upon  the  coffin  bone  are  set  edgewise  a  corresponding 
number  of  vascular,  or  sensitive  lamina?,  shaped  very 
much  like  the  horny  lamina?,  and  inserted  between 
them  like  partially  interlaced  fingers.  They  hold 
the  hoof  so  tightly  that  to  pull  it  off,  even  when  the 


1P%> 


46 


HORSE    AND    MAN. 


pastern  is  separated  from   the  rest  of  the  limb,   is 
exceedingly  difficult. 

In  the  accompanying  illustration  is  represented 
a  section  of  a  hoof  which  was  made  for  me  at 
the  College  of  Surgeons,  e  is  the  bone.  At  a  b 
are  the  horny  and  sensitive  lamina  interlacing  with 
each  other,  the  latter  being  as  amply  supplied  with 
nerves  as  the  base  and  '  quick '  of  the  human  nail. 


SECTION   OF   HOOF   THROUGH   THE   COFFIN   BONE. 


c   is    sensitive    structure,    and    d    is    the    external 
horn. 

This  figure  affords  an  excellent  example  of  the 
curious  alteration  in  appearance  which  is  made  by  a 
section.  Even  in  the  longitudinal  section  of  the  pas- 
tern, as  shown  in  p.  40,  the  coffin  bone,  owing  to  the 
absence  of  the  wing,  looks  scarcely  half  its  real  size, 
while  no  one  could  form  the  least  idea  of  either  the 
size  or  shape  of  the  navicular  bone  from  the  section. 


UNDER   THE    MICROSCOPE.  47 

There  is  now  before  Hie  a  dried  specimen  of  a 
pastern,  from  which  the  hoof  has  been  removed, 
the  sensitive  laminae  having  been  allowed  to  remain 
in  their  places. 

They  have,  of  course,  become  shrivelled  out  of 
all  shape,  have  lost  their  bright  scarlet  colour,  and 
round  the  edge  of  the  coffin  bone  they  are  quite 
undistinguishable,  the  bone  looking  as  if  it  were 
enveloped  in  a  rough  brown  skin.  But  at  the  upper 
part  of  the  bone,  especially  just  below  the  coronary 
ring,  the  separate  laminse  can  easily  be  detected,  so 
that  when  the  hoof  is  shown  beside  them  the  con- 
nection is  perfectly  intelligible. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  there  are  about 
six  hundred  horny  laminse  in  each  hoof.  If  we  make 
a  careful  section  of  the  laminae,  we  find  that,  slight 
and  delicate  as  they  are,  their  structure  is  far  from 
being  simple.  Hard  at  their  bases,  which  form  the 
wall  of  the  hoof,  they  become  more  and  more  fragile 
towards  their  edges,  so  that  the  portions  which  inter- 
lace with  the  sensitive  laminse  might  be  rubbed  to 
pieces  between  the  finger  and  thumb. 

In  order  to  be  seen  in  their  full  perfection,  a  very 
thin  section  of  them  should  be  made,  and  then  be 
viewed  by  polarised  light.  A  very  moderate  power, 
say  a  half-inch  object-glass,  is  required.  They  will 
then   be  seen  to  have  their   surfaces  covered  with 


48 


HORSE   AND    MAN. 


sub-laminae,  while  now  and  then  one  of  them  throws 
off  a  branch  similarly  furnished  with  sub-lamina3. 
The  colours  which  are  presented  by  these  structures 
under   polarised    light    are   beyond    the    power    of 


APPEARANCE  OF  HORN- 
FIBRES  BY  POLARISED 
LIGHT. 


TWO   LAMINA   WITH   THEIR   SUB-LAMINA. 

description.     I  have,  however,  endeavoured  to  give 
some  idea  of  them  without  the  aid  of  colour. 

One  other  point  remains  to  be  mentioned  in 
connection  with  this  part  of  the  subject.  This  is 
the   '  linea  alba,'   or   white    line,    which   marks    the 


THE    LINEA    ALBA.  49 

junction  of  the  sole  and  wall.  It  is  analogous  to 
the  '  quick  '  of  the  human  nail,  and  is  exceedingly 
sensitive. 

In  the  untouched  hoof,  this  line,  which  is  as 
vulnerable  as  the  heel  of  Achilles,  is  thoroughly  pro- 
tected by  the  thick  and  strong  horny  layers  of  the 
sole ;  but  if  that  protection  be  removed,  or  even 
weakened,  the  pressure  of  the  horse's  weight  against 
a  stone  or  similar  object  will  cause  such  intolerable 
agony,  that  the  animal  will  drop  as  if  shot  when  he 
treads  upon  it. 

Now  we  will  see  how  all  these  structures,  which 
are  apparently  so  different,  can  work  together  in 
harmony. 

Suppose  the  animal  to  be  walking.  At  each  step 
a  considerable  part  of  the  weight  of  the  horse  is 
thrown  upon  the  hoof.  The  first  portion  to  come 
to  the  ground  is  the  elastic  frog,  and  as  the  frog 
yields  to  pressure,  the  sharp  edged  wall  also  comes 
upon  the  ground,  so  that  the  horse  is  partly  sup- 
ported by  the  frog  and  partly  by  the  wall. 

The  pressure  of  the  frog  is  transmitted  to  the 
sole,  and  thence  to  the  wall,  which  slightly  expands. 
There  has  been  great  controversy  about  this  expan- 
sion. Some  writers,  judging  apparently  from  the 
dried  hoof,  have  denied  that  any  expansion  at  all 
takes  place.     But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 

E 


50  HORSE    AND    MAN. 

hoof,  when  it  belongs  to  the  living  animal,  is  a  very 
different  instrument  from  the  same  hoof  when  dry. 
In  the  latter  state  it  is  hard  and  unyielding,  but  in  the 
former,  though  hard  on  the  exterior,  it  becomes  gra- 
dually softer  in  the  interior,  and  is  perfectly  capable 
of  yielding  to  pressure. 

Similarly,  '  whalebone,'  as  we  popularly  call  it, 
or  '  baleen,'  as  it  ought  to  be  termed,  is  a  kind  of 
horny  structure,  formed,  like  the  hoof,  of  a  vast 
number  of  hair-like  fibres  fused  together.  The 
whalebone  of  commerce  is  hard,  and  though  very 
elastic  to  a  certain  extent,  is  sure  to  snap  if  bent 
too  far.  This  is  well  exemplified  by  the  pictorial 
advertisements  which  meet,  or  rather  which  are 
forced  on  our  eyes  at  every  turn,  and  which  repre- 
sent ladies  in  despair  about  their  corsets,  the  '  bones  ' 
of  which  will  break. 

But  the  baleen,  as  it  exists  in  the  living  animal, 
is  a  very  different  structure.  It  is  many  feet  in 
length,  very  nearly  straight,  as  soft  and  pliable  as 
a  fresh  tendon,  and  quite  as  incapable  of  being  broken 
when  bent.  Indeed,  it  is  so  pliable,  that  when  the 
whale  closes  its  mouth,  the  ends  of  the  baleen  slip  into 
a  deep  groove  on  either  side  of  the  lower  jaw,  the  long 
plates,  or  laminse,  bending  nearly  at  right  angles.  They 
remain  there  until  the  animal  opens  its  mouth,  when 
the  baleen  springs  back  again  into  its  previous  form. 


'FREE    LANCE.'  51 

So  it  is  with  two  out  of  the  three  kinds  of  horn 
which  constitute  the  hoof.  The  frog  yields  vertically 
and  the  wall  laterally,  the  rigid  sole  serving  to  transfer 
the  pressure  as  has  already  been  mentioned.  Con- 
sequently, as  long  as  the  animal  moves,  the  horn  is 
never  at  rest.  It  is  perpetually  fulfilling  the  tasks 
for  which  it  was  made,  is  continually  thrown  off,  and 
as  continually  replaced.  Any  interference  with  nature, 
therefore,  must  of  necessity  be  injurious  to  the  hoof. 

The  expansion  is  not  nearly  so  much  as  some  of 
its  advocates  think,  but  still,  there  is  quite  enough  to 
keep  the  fibres  of  the  three  horns  in  motion.  Mr.  G. 
Ransom  ('  Free  Lance  '),  in  his  '  Horses  and  Eoads,' 
mentions  a  case  where  the  amount  of  expansion  was 
carefully  measured.  The  experiments  were  made  by 
Mi*.  Miles,  a  Devonshire  squire,  author  of  '  Miles  on 
the  Horse's  Foot.' 

'The  subject  of  them  was  a  horse  nine  years  old, 
which  had  always  worn  shoes  since  he  was  first  put 
to  work,  and  Lad  the  shoes  removed  on  purpose  for 
the  investigation  and  experiment. 

'  The  unshod  foot  was  then  lifted  up,  and  its  con- 
tour traced  with  the  greatest  precision  on  a  piece  of 
board  covered  with  paper.  A  similar  board  was  then 
laid  on  the  ground,  the  same  foot  was  then  placed 
upon  it,  and  the  opposite  foot  held  up  whilst  it  was 
again  traced. 

E  2 


52  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

'  The  result  was,  that  it  had  expanded  one  eighth 
part  of  an  inch  at  the  heels  and  quarters ;  and  from 
the  quarters  towards  the  toe  this  gradually  diminished, 
showing  a  space  of  four  inches  front,  and  two  inches 
on  each  side  of  the  centre  of  the  toe,  where  no 
expansion  whatever  had  taken  place  ;  the  tracings 
proving  at  the  same  time  that  expansion  was  only 
lateral^  and  that  none  took  place  in  the  length  of 
the  foot  from  heel  to  toe. 

'  He  states  that  he  had  other  horses  which  had 
before  shown  a  still  greater  expansion  than  this  ;  but 
this  was  only  whilst  the  horse  was  standing,  and  upon 
three  legs.' 

The  expansive  property  of  the  hoof  has  another 
advantage.  When  an  ordinary  horse — say  in  hunt- 
ing— is  traversing  stiff  and  clayey  ground,  its  pro- 
gress is  greatly  hindered  by  the  soil  which  adheres 
to  the  hoofs,  and  by  the  depth  to  which  the  foot 
sinks  in  the  ground.  Sometimes,  when  the  horse  has 
taken  a  leap,  the  fore-hoofs  sink  so  deeply  that  the 
animal  cannot  instantly  extricate  them.  The  forward 
impetus  cannot  be  checked,  and  the  result  is  that  the 
leg  is  broken  at  the  pastern,  and  the  horse  has  to  be 
killed.  The  rider  may  probably  be  killed  too,  but  we 
are  now  dealing  with  the  horse  and  not  with  its  rider. 

But,  with  an  unshod  horse,  the  result  of  a  similar 
leap  would  be  very  different.     As  it   comes  to  the 


IRON   AND    HORN.  53 

ground,  the  hoof  expands,  and  consequently  gives  a 
wider  bearing,  so  that  the  foot  does  not  sink  so  far, 
and  necessarily  makes  a  larger  hole.  Then,  as  the 
hoof  contracts  as  soon  as  the  weight  is  taken  off,  it 
conies  easily  out  of  the  hole,  and  so  there  is  but  little 
risk  of  snapping  the  pastern. 

Even  on  hard  ground,  the  disadvantage  of  inter- 
ference with  nature  is  equally  shown.  Mr.  Miles,  who 
has  already  been  mentioned,  writes  as  follows : — 

4  When  a  hunter  is  shod  in  the  usual  manner  with 
seven  or  eight  nails,  some  are  always,  for  the  sake  of 
security,  placed  in  the  inner  quarter,  which  is  the 
most  expansive  portion  of  the  hoof.  Let  a  horse  so 
circumstanced  be  called  upon  to  leap  from  a  high 
bank  into  a  hard  road,  and  what  happens  ? 

'  The  weight  of  the  horse  and  its  rider  is  thrown 
with  an  impetus,  which  greatly  increases  that  of  both, 
upon  the  bones  of  the  feet,  both  sides  of  which  are 
so  fettered  that  neither  can  yield  to  make  room  for 
them.  Consequently,  they  squeeze  the  exquisitely 
sensitive  lining  of  the  hoof  between  their  own  hard 
substance,  the  unyielding  horn,  and  the  shanks  of 
one,  two,  or  three  nails,  as  the  case  may  be.' 

That  the  heel  comes  first  to  the  ground,  is  followed 
by  the  frog,  and  that  the  toe  only  comes  on  the 
ground  when  the  horse  is  standing  still,  or  when  it 
lifts  the  foot  from  the  ground,  has  been  conclusively 


54  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

proved  by  the  well-known  veterinary  surgeon,  Mr. 
«T.  I.  Lupton. 

'  The  foot  of  a  living  horse  in  a  state  of  rest  re- 
mains firmly  on  the  ground — that  is,  the  toe  and  the 
heel  are  on  the  ground  at  one  and  the  same  time. 
But  if,  during  this  position,  the  extensor  muscles 
were  to  contract,  then  the  toe  would  be  raised  from 
the  ground.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  flexor  muscles 
were  to  contract,  then  the  heel  would  be  raised  from 
the  ground. 

'Now,  during  progression,  the  first  movement 
which  takes  place  is  the  contraction  of  the  flexor 
muscles,  by  which  (together  with  the  muscles  of  the 
arm)  the  foot  is  raised,  the  toe  being  the  last  part  of 
that  organ  raised  from  the  ground.  The  foot  is  now 
in  a  position  to  be  sent  forward,  which  is  brought 
about  by  the  contraction  of  the  extensor  muscles. 
The  foot  is  then  thrown  out  as  far  as  the  flexor 
muscles  will  admit,  and,  when  at  the  greatest  allow- 
able point  of  extension,  the  heel  is  brought  in  a  posi- 
tion with  the  ground. 

'  The  flexors  now  in  their  turn  contract,  the  heel 
is  first  raised  from  the  ground,  and  lastly  the  toe, 
which  brings  me  back  to  the  point  I  started  from. 

'Three  principal  impressions  are  made  on  the 
foot  during  progression,  namely  : — 

'  (1)  On    the   heel,    when   great    expansion    and 


INSTANTANEOUS    PHOTOGRAPHS.  55 

yielding  takes  place,  owing  to  the  pressure  on  the 
frog,  which  is  forced  upwards,  causing  the  ultimate 
expansion  of  the  walls  of  the  hoof,  &c. 

'  (2)  On  the  middle  part  of  the  foot,  when  the 
bones  bear  the  weight  of  the  body,  the  flexors  and 
extensors  being  for  the  instant  in  a  state  of  quietude 
— i.e.  neither  of  them  are  extending  or  contracting. 

*  (3)  In  the  toe,  when  the  animal  gives  a  push, 
by  which  an  impetus  is  given  to  send  the  body 
forward.' 

These  words  were  written  as  long  ago  as  1858, 
and  have  since  received  exact  corroboration  in  the 
instantaneous  photographs  of  the  horse's  action,  with 
which  we  are  now  so  familiar. 

It  may  seem  to  some  persons  a  matter  of  little  or 
no  consequence  whether  the  heel  or  toe  should  first 
come  to  the  ground  during  progression.  In  reality, 
it  is  of  the  very  last  importance,  and,  as  we  shall  see 
in  a  future  page,  does  not  only  affect  the  hoof,  but  is 
intimately  connected  with  the  whole  of  the  muscles 
which  the  horse  uses  in  progression,  and  with  the 
nerves  which  supply  these  muscles  with  energy. 

The  reader  is  requested  to  bear  in  mind  that  the 
hoof  only  expands  laterally,  and  that  on  and  near  the 
toe  the  expansion  is  so  trifling,  that  it  may  be  practi- 
cally disregarded.  Reference  will  again  be  made  to 
this  fact. 


56  HORSE   AND    MAN. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Expansion  acknowledged,  acted,  upon,  and  perverted — Authorised  direc- 
tions for  shoeing — '  Thinning '  and  '  opening ' — Horseshoeing  in 
England  and  America — '  Dew-drops,'  i.e.  oozing  blood — The  diseases 
called  by  the  name  of  'thrush' — True  causes  of  thrush — Supply  of 
blood  to  hoof — Nature's  balance  of  supply  and  waste — Office  of  the 
blood — '  Thrush '  a  safety-valve  for  inflamed  blood — Derivation  of  the 
word  '  founder ' — '  Thrush  '  never  seen  in  wild  horses — A  compre- 
hensive challenge — Where  do  wild  horses  keep  their  knives  ? — The 
frog  again — Lieutenant  Douglas  on  the  frog  and  its  value.  Mr.  T. 
Gepp's  experience. 

Some  of  those  who  asserted,  and  rightly,  that  the 
hoof  expanded  when  the  weight  of  the  horse  rested 
upon  it,  attempted  to  improve  nature  by  art,  and, 
with  the  very  best  intention,  contrived  to  do  a 
wonderful  amount  of  damage  to  the  animal.  Of 
course,  they  assumed  that  the  horse  must  be  shod  in 
the  usual  manner.  Then,  they  forgot  that  the  hoof 
would  not  expand  unless  the  weight  of  the  horse 
rested  primarily  on  the  frog,  the  '  mainstay  of  the 
foot,'  as  Mr.  Douglas  calls  it ;  and  lastly,  most  of  them 
forgot  that  the  iron  shoe  would  prevent  the  hoof 
from  either  expanding  or  contracting.     Some,  how- 


DIRECTIONS    TO    FARRIERS.  57 

ever,  did  recognise  this  fact,  and  invented  shoes  in 
two  pieces,  so  that  expansion  was  not  hindered. 

So,  thinking  that  the  thick  and  rigid  sole  was  an 
obstacle  to  expansion  instead  of  being  one  of  the 
means  by  which  expansion  is  accomplished,  and  also 
assuming  that  the  expansion  was  in  all  directions,  and 
much  greater  than  is  really  the  case,  they  believed 
that  by  thinning  the  interior  of  the  hoof  they  would 
increase  its  power  of  expansion.  So  they  issued  the 
following  directions  to  the  farrier  when  he  prepares  a 
horse  for  the  shoe  : — 

'  Pare  the  sole  until  it  yields  to  the  pressure  of 
the  thumb. 

'  Cut  the  walls  down  until  they  are  but  little 
higher  than  the  contiguous  sole,  taking  care  to 
shorten  the  toe  if  necessary,  it  being  frequently  left 
too  long. 

1  Cut  away  the  bars,  so  as  to  make  a  gradual 
slope  from  the  wall  to  the  bottom  of  the  commis- 
sures, which  must  be  deepened. 

1  Lower  and  open  the  heels,  taking  the  bearing  off 
them  for  at  least  an  inch  on  each  side  of  the  frog,  so 
that  the  walls  at  these  parts  will  not  be  in  immediate 
contact  with  the  shoe  when  first  put  on. 

'Pay  special  attention  to  the  removal  of  the 
"  pegs "  (the  hard  horny  substance  which  grows 
down  at  each  side  of  the  frog,  and  contiguous  to  it). 


58  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

These  pegs  are  apt  to  contract  the  foot,  or  make  it 
thrushy,  by  pinching  and  narrowing  the  frog. 

'  The  frog  may  be  pared  to  stimulate  its  growth, 
and  the  cleft  opened ;  otherwise  it  may  be  left  un- 
touched,' &c. 

These  directions  for  shoeing  on  *  improved  prin- 
ciples '  are  taken  verbatim  from  the  '  United  States' 
Army  Tactics  on  Horseshoeing,'  and  are  quoted  by 
Mr.  M.  I.  Treacy,  Veterinarian  to  the  7th  Cavalry, 
in  an  article  on  Horseshoeing  in  The  United  Service 
Magazine  for  February  1884. 

One  excuse — I  cannot  call  it  a  reason— for  open- 
ing the  heel  and  thinning  the  sole  would  be  comical, 
but  for  the  injury  which  it  has  wrought  to  thousands 
of  horses.  The  advocates  of  the  knife  say  that  they 
are  aware  of  the  sensitive  and  delicate  structure  of 
the  interior  of  the  hoof,  and  that  the  operations  of 
opening  and  thinning  are  necessary  to  preserve  those 
structures.  According  to  them,  in  this  climate  the 
horny  parts  of  the  hoof  have  too  rapid  a  growth 
(why  or  how  is  not  stated),  so  that  they  prevent 
expansion,  and  pinch  the  internal  structures.  So, 
by  '  thinning  the  sole  until  it  yields  to  the  pressure 
of  the  thumb,'  and  cutting  through  the  heel,  they 
think  that  the  internal  structures  are  relieved  from 
constriction  !  Mayhew  very  quaintly  and  truly  says 
that    it   would    be    just    as    sensible    to    thin   and 


AN    '  IMPROVED      HOOP. 


59 


open  the   skull    for    the    purpose    of  protecting  the 
brain. 

Here  is  a  figure  of  a  hoof  in  my  possession  which 
has  been  treated  according  to  these  directions.  It 
was  drawn  by  the  late  Mr.  Sherwin  from  the  actual 
specimen,  which  was  by  no  means  the  worst  that 
I  have  seen. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  show  what  is  the  result  of 
thus  preparing  the  hoof,  first,  however,  mentioning  that 
the  directions  which  are  here 
given  are  followed  both  in  Eng- 
land and  America.  While  on  a 
tour  through  the  Northern  States 
in  the  winter  of  1883, 1  delivered 
lectures  on  this  subject  in  many 
places.  One  well-known  writer 
and  lecturer  took  umbrage  at  my 
statements,  and  had  the  hardi- 
hood to  assert,  both  by  pen  and  on  the  platform,  that 
in  America  the  frogs  of  the  horses  were  not  cut  away, 
nor  the  soles  pared.  Yet,  being  in  America,  I  took 
my  descriptions,  not  from  our  English  customs  but 
from  American  sources,  one,  as  the  reader  may  have 
seen,  being  stamped  with  official  authority. 

The  first  direction  is,  to  pare  the  sole  until  it 
yields  to  the  pressure  of  the  thumb.  In  many  cases 
this  paring  of  the  sole — I  again  use  American  autho- 


HOOF  IMPROVED  BY 
THE  FAERIEE. 


60  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

rities — is  carried  so  far  that  blood-specks  ('  dew- 
drops,'  as  they  are  euphemistically  termed)  ooze 
through  the  thinned  horn.  Just  see  what  this  means. 
One  of  the  chief  duties  of  the  sole  is  to  protect  the 
sensitive  structures  within  the  hoof  from  sharp  stones 
and  similar  objects. 

It  is  difficult  to  persuade  many  people  that 
the  Creator  really  did  know  how  to  make  a  horse, 
and  that  divine  handiwork  cannot  very  well  be  im- 
proved by  man.  But,  a  horse,  whose  hoof  is  left  as 
Nature  made  it,  cares  nothing  about  pebbles  or  even 
broken  flints,  but  can  gallop  among  them  without 
being  even  aware  of  their  presence,  so  dense  and 
strong  is  the  horn  of  the  sole. 

Within  the  last  four  weeks,  an  unshod  mare 
belonging  to  one  of  my  friends  ran  away  with  her 
mistress,  who  was  driving  her  in  an  ordinary  chaise. 
The  road  had  been  newly  laid  with  loose  stones,  but 
she  galloped  for  nearly  two  miles  before  she  was 
stopped.  I  examined  '  Dolly's '  hoof  a  few  days  after- 
wards, and  found  that  they  had  suffered  no  injury 
from  the  sharp  points  and  edges  of  the  stones.  A 
shod  horse  could  scarcely  have  escaped  laming. 

But,  when  the  sole  is  pared  until  it  is  not  so 
thick  as  an  ordinary  visiting  card,  it  is  evident  that 
the  pressure  of  a  stone  must  cause  the  severest  pain. 
Moreover,  this  paring  of  the  sole  exposes  the  '  linea 


OPENING   THE   HEEL.  61 

alba,'  which,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  is  iden- 
tical with  the  '  quick '  of  the  nail,  and  equally  sensi- 
tive. 

Unfortunately,  when  a  shod  horse  picks  up  a 
stone,  the  intruding  object  is  always  jammed  between 
the  shoe  and  the  sole,  and  must  press  upon  the  linea 
alba.  An  unshod  horse  which  has  perfect  hoofs 
cannot  pick  up  a  stone,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
there  is  no  room  for  it.  Let  the  reader  look  at  the 
figure  of  an  unshod  hoof  on  p.  34,  and  he  will  see 
that  it  would  be  perfectly  impossible  for  the  animal 
to  pick  up  a  stone,  the  frog  filling  almost  the  entire 
cavity  of  the  hoof. 

Having  now  weakened  and  thinned  the  sole  as 
much  as  possible,  the  farrier  is  directed  to  cut  down 
the  wall  until  it  is  scarcely  higher  than  the  sole. 
This  proceeding  is  ingeniously  contrived  so  as  to 
bring  the  weakened  sole  within  reach  of  the  smallest 
pebble. 

Next,  the  bars  are  attacked,  and  then  the  heels 
'  opened  ' ;  this  last  operation  being  analogous  to 
removing  the  keystone  of  an  arch.  With  regard  to 
the  mode  in  which  this  system  is  carried  out, 
Mr.  Fleming  writes  as  follows  : — '  I  have  seen  in 
forges,  where  horses  were  shod  on  "  improved  prin- 
ciples," the  blood  oozing  from  the  sole,  which  had 
been  pared   as  thin  as  parchment,  as  well  as  from 


62  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

the  frog,  through  the  semi-translucent  substance  of 
which,  so  thin  had  it  been  made,  the  bright  red  and 
exceedingly  sensitive  living  membrane  beneath  could 
here  and  there  be  distinctly  seen.  Not  unfrequently, 
also,  I  have  noticed  blood  issuing  from  the  bottom 
of  the  deep  notches  cut  off  nearly  as  far  as  the  hairs 
at  the  heel.' 

Then  the  '  pegs '  are  to  be  removed,  on  the  ground 
that  they  contract  the  frog,  and  cause  '  thrush.'  It  is 
impossible  to  surpass  this  statement  in  its  extraordi- 
nary mixture  of  ignorance  and  presumption.  If  it 
were  true,  every  wild  horse,  or  every  horse,  previous 
to  its  introduction  to  the  farrier,  must  be  liable  to 
thrush  ;  whereas,  no  horse  that  had  never  been  shod 
could  by  any  possibility  be  afflicted  with  thrush. 

What  is  the  ailment  which  we  call  thrush,  and 
what  is  its  cause  ?  The  presence  of  the  disease  is 
made  known  by  the  horribly  smelling  purulent  dis- 
charge which  is  formed  in  the  interior  of  the  hoof, 
and  which  at  last  exudes  from  it.  In  bad  cases, 
it  can  be  detected  at  some  distance  by  the  sense  of 
smell  alone.  The  word  is  a  sort  of  generic  term,  and 
is  applied  very  loosely  to  any  disease  which  causes 
internal  inflammation  and  consequent  discharge  of 
pus. 

The  disease  is  wholly  owing  to  the  shoe,  and  is 
thus   caused.     Again,   at  the  risk  of  being  tedious, 


CAUSES    OF    'THRUSH.'  63 

1  must  repeat  that  the  structure  of  the  hoof  im- 
peratively demands  that  the  wall,  frog,  and  sole  shall 
each  be  called  into  play,  each  be  worn  away  natu- 
rally, and  each  be  perpetually  reproduced. 

Although  intended  to  benefit  the  horse,  the  or- 
dinary shoe  does  it  a  serious  injury  in  frustrating 
each  of  these  requirements.  As  the  iron  of  the  shoe 
is  interposed  between  the  wall  and  the  ground,  the 
horn  of  the  Avail  cannot  be  worn  away,  especially  in 
front,  where  the  friction  is  greatest,  and  where  the 
horn  grows  fastest.  As  the  frog  is  cut  away,  it 
cannot  take  the  weight  of  the  horse  as  it  ought  to  do, 
and  therefore  communicates  no  movement  either  to 
the  sole  or  the  lamina?  of  the  wall,  and  so  there  is 
/none  of  the  incessant  expansion  and  contraction 
which  the  hoof  requires. 

I  need  hardly  explain  that  all  repair  of  organic 
waste  is  effected  by  means  of  blood,  and  that  the 
supply  of  blood  is  proportioned  to  the  amount  of 
work  to  be  done  by  it. 

Now.  if  the  skin  be  stripped  off  the  shank  of  the 
horse,  the  bone  will  be  seen  surrounded  with  a  series 
of  very  large  arteries  and  veins,  intended  to  carry 
blood  into  and  from  the  hoof,  so  as  to  supply  the 
continual  waste  of  the  horn,  the  arteries  and  veins 
exactly  balancing  each  other.  But  when  that  waste 
is  checked,  the  balance  of  circulation  is  destroyed. 


64  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

The  blood  is  continually  forced  into  the  hoof  for  the 
purpose  of  doing  its  work  ;  but  there  is  very  little 
work  to  be  clone,  so  that  the  blood  cannot  be  carried 
out  of  the  hoof  by  the  veins  as  fast  as  it  is  pumped 
in  through  the  arteries. 

Consequently,  the  smaller  vessels  become  gorged, 
and  the  flow  of  blood  impeded.  Gradually,  conges- 
tion comes  on,  which  before  long  developes  into  in- 
flammation. Then,  the  semi  stagnant  and  inflamed 
blood  reaches  such  a  stage  that  decomposition  sets 
in,  and  the  blood  which  ought  to  have  passed 
through  the  circulation  in  a  natural  manner  is  forced 
to  make  its  exit  in  the  form  of  pus,  the  aperture 
which  it  makes  for  itself  being  a  sort  of  safety-  valve 
not  only  for  the  hoof,  but  for  the  whole  circulatory 
system. 

By  the  way,  the  word  '  founder,'  which  is  applied 
to  any  disease  of  the  sensitive  laminas  when  it  has 
advanced  sufficiently  far  to  lame  the  horse,  is  a 
curious  example  of  the  ignorance  which  seems  to  be 
the  invariable  inheritance  of  those  who  have  most 
to  do  with  horses.  It  is  a  corruption  of  the  French 
word  fondre,  signifying  to  melt,  and  was  used  because 
the  farriers  believed  that  the  fat  of  the  horse  melted 
out  of  his  body,  and  ran  down  his  leg  into  his 
hoofs  ! 

A   corresponding  version  of  the  same  word  is  a 


*  FUNDIED  '    CHEESE.  65 

familiar  term  at  Oxford,  where  some  of  the  college 
servants  possess  a  special  recipe  for  preparing 
*  fundied  '  cheese.  The  cheese  is  cut  up,  put  into  a 
'  fundy ' — i.e.  a  flat  vessel  made  for  the  purpose,  some 
of  the  best  ale  is  added  to  it,  and  it  is  heated  and 
stirred  until  the  cheese  and  beer  are  melted  together 
to  the  consistency  of  treacle. 

Thrush  has  nothing  to  do  with  contraction  of  the 
frog,  though  it  is  produced  by  cutting  away  the 
frog,  and  surrounding  the  wall  with  unyielding  iron. 
Yet — probably  because  thrush  shows  itself  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  frog — the  opinion  that  the  frog 
produces  thrush  is  prevalent  even  among  those  who 
ought  to  know  better. 

A  year  or  two  ago  I  had  been  lecturing  on  the 
horse's  hoof.  According  to  my  invariable  custom, 
I  began  my  lecture  with  a  disavowal  of  any  attempt 
to  lay  down  the  law  on  this  very  difficult  subject.  I 
begged  that  any  of  the  audience  would  at  once 
contradict  any  statement  which  they  thought  to  be 
mistaken.  I  also  mentioned  that  I  would  wait  on 
the  platform  after  the  lecture  for  half  an  hour,  so  that 
any  disputed  point  might  be  thoroughly  investigated. 

Xo  one  challenged  any  remark  during  the  lecture, 
nor  for  at  least  half  an  hour,  during  which  I  re- 
mained on  the  platform  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
lecture.     But  a  local  veterinary  surgeon,  who  was 

F 


06  HOKSE   AND    MAN. 

present  at  the  lecture,  wrote  a  letter  to  a  local 
journal,  saying  that  I  was  entirely  mistaken  in  stating 
that  the  frog  ought  to  rest  on  the  ground,  and  assert- 
ing, moreover,  that  thrush  was  produced  by  neglect- 
ing to  pare  the  frog  and  cut  away  the  flaps  that  hang 
from  it. 

Anonymous  attacks  I  never  answer,  but  as  this 
man  did  have  the  honesty  to  append  his  name  to  his 
letter,  and  did  not  employ  personal  abuse  in  lieu  of 
argument,  I  sent  an  answer.  In  it  I  asked  him 
where  wild  horses  kept  the  knives  wherewith  they 
pared  their  frogs.  Next,  I  told  him  that  if  he  could 
produce  a  thrushy  hoof  of  a  horse  which  had  never 
been  shod,  I  would  first  eat  my  words,  and  then  the 
hoof,  thrush  and  all. 

This  event  occurred  in  England,  but  I  have  un- 
dergone a  very  similar  experience  in  America,  the 
opponent  having  lacked  the  courage  to  attack  me 
on  the  platform  though  he  was  present  at  the  lec- 
ture, and  having  written  letters  against  me  in  the 
local  journals,  and  publicly  spoken  against  me  after 
I  had  left  the  country  and  could  not  answer. 

As  we  are  on  the  subject  of  the  frog,  we  may  as 
well  continue  it. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  the  frog  was  made 
for  the  express  purpose  of  resting  upon  the  ground, 
so  as  to  perform  a  threefold  office. 


USES   OF   THE    FROG.  67 

In  the  first  place  it  is  soft  and  yielding,  so  as  to 
take  off  the  jar  which  would  ensue  if  the  horse  trod 
first  upon  the  wall. 

In  the  next  place,  it  communicates  the  pressure 
through  the  sole  to  the  walls,  so  as  to  enable  the 
hoof  to  expand  and  contract  laterally. 

Lieutenant  Douglas,  in  his  valuable  work  on 
horseshoeing,  is  very  emphatic  on  this  point : — 

'  A  little  reflection  on  this  important  subject  will 
show  how  very  important  frog-pressure  is,  as,  even 
when  the  horse  is  resting  as  he  stands  in  the  stall, 
some  portion  of  his  weight  must  fall  from  the  lower 
pastern  bone  upon  the  navicular  bone,  which  rests 
upon  the  back  sinew,  which  in  its  turn  should  receive 
support  from  the  sensitive  and  insensitive  parts  of 
the  frog  underneath  it. 

*  How  much  more  then  must  this  necessary  sup- 
port be  needed  when  the  animal  is  in  motion,  espe- 
cially if  at  a  fast  gallop,  or  landing  on  hard  ground 
after  being  leaped  over  a  hedge.  If  the  frog  is  there 
to  receive  the  shock,  the  horse  lands  on  his  feet  with 
all  the  ease  and  comfort  that  a  cat  does  upon  hers 
after  a  jump  ;  but  when  the  frog  has  been  cut  away 
there  is  nothing  to  break  the  fall,  and,  as  is  often 
the  case,  the  animal  is  ruined  by  the  jar  having 
brought  on  irritation  of  the  sheath  which  covers  the 
back  sinew,  and  inflammation  sets  in. 

v  2 


68  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

*  La  Posse  describes  this  action  as  a  "  compression," 
fitly  comparing  the  process  of  the  lower  pastern  bone 
squeezing  the  navicular  bone  on  the  top  of  the  tendon 
to  the  action  of  the  hammer  upon  the  anvil.' 

Thirdly,  it  is  intended  to  cling  to  smooth  and 
wet  surfaces,  which  its  indiarubber-like  consistency 
enables  it  to  do.  The  late  Mr.  T.  M.  Gepp,  of 
Chelmsford,  a  veteran  Nimrod,  told  me  that  when  he 
was  in  Palestine,  the  horses  at  first  absolutely  terrified 
him  by  the  way  in  which  they  sprang  from  rock  to 
rock,  the  frog  enabling  them  to  cling  to  any  smooth 
surface  on  which  they  might  alight,  and  the  sharply 
edged  wall  hitching  upon  the  slightest  irregularity. 


69 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  prog  continued — '  Hammering '  on  the  roads  Cause  of  the  ham- 
mering— King  Theodore's  horse  '  Hainmel ' — Elasticity  of  the  frog — 
The  '  Village  Blacksmith ' — The  bicycle  wheel — Analogy  between 
carriage  springs  and  the  horse's  hoof — Lodgment  of  stones — Mr.  S. 
Chapin  and  his  bare-footed  horse — Hartmann's  safety  pad — Spiked 
shoes — American  shoeing — Injury  to  the  untouched  frog  impossible — 
'  Greasy  '  roads — Manchester  '  lurry '  horses — The  streets  of  Man- 
chester— A  doctor's  horses — Shoes  of  lurry  horses — Ludgate  Hill  and 
its  terrors — Lieut.  Douglas's  testimony — Indiarubber  soles  on  ice  and 
on  board  ship — The  hoof  an  organ  of  touch — Mr.  J.  Bellows's  story — 
1  Free  Lance's '  view  of  the  frog  and  its  uses — Relative  dependence  of 
the  frog  and  navicular  bone. 

Softness  of  tread  is  an  exceedingly  valuable  pro- 
perty in  a  horse.  We  know  how  '  it  ain't  the  'untin' 
as  'urts  the  'orses,  but  the  'ammer,  'ammer,  'ammer, 
on  the  'ard  'igh  roads/  The  worthy  and  afflicted 
groom  was  perfectly  right.  This  incessant  hammer- 
ing, which  is  exceedingly  injurious  to  the  horse,  is 
entirely  owing  to  the  shoe,  an  unshod  horse  treading 
almost  as  noiselessly  as  an  elephant  does,  and  being 
delightfully  easy  to  the  rider. 

The  first  adult  working  horse  which  I  ever  saw 
unshod  was  '  Hammel,'    the    war-horse    of  the   late 


70  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

King  Theodore  of  Abyssinia.  He  was  shown  in  a 
menagerie,  and  after  I  had  inspected  his  hoofs  care- 
fully, I  remarked  to  the  exhibitor  that  I  presumed 
him  to  be  kept  for  show  and  not  for  use.  But  the 
proprietor  assured  me  that  he  took  his  share  of  the 
work  with  the  other  horses,  and  that  when  travelling 
from  one  place  to  another  he  was  regularly  harnessed 
to  the  vans  or  carts. 

Farriers  and  grooms  are,  as  a  rule,  impressed 
with  an  idea  that  because  the  frog  is  soft,  it  will  be 
hurt  by  coining  upon  a  hard  road.  So,  with  the 
very  best  intentions,  they  cut  it  off  either  partially 
or  entirely. 

There  is  now  before  me  an  entire  frog  which  was 
cut  off  at  a  single  stroke  of  the  farrier's  knife.  It 
was  taken  from  the  floor  of  a  forge  by  General 
Carter,  a  well-known  lover  of  horses.  It  seems 
strange  that  such  an  idea  should  prevail  in  these 
*  cycling '  days,  when  indiarubber  tires  have  been 
practically  found  not  only  to  be  more  pleasant  for  the 
rider  than  the  old  steel-faced  tires,  but  experience 
has  proved  that  the  soft  elastic  indiarubber  tire  is 
far  more  lasting  than  one  which  is  made  of  steel. 

Suppose  that  we  revert  to  the  parallel  of  the 
horse's  hoof  and  the  railway  carriage  spring.  In 
the  accompanying  illustration,  fig.  1  represents  the 
spring,  which  is  made  of  a  number  of  flat  strips  of 


CARRIAGE-SPRINGS. 


71 


steel,  the  bearing  being  at  a.  Now,  supposing  that 
a  village  blacksmith,  who  knew  nothing  about  ma- 
chinery, were  to  be  placed  in  charge  of  the  engine, 
he  would  probably  be  dissatisfied  with  the  spring  as 
being  inadequate  to  its  work,  and  therefore  danger- 
ous. '  It  will  never  answer,'  he  might  say,  '  to  trust 
the  weight  of  a  heavy  engine  on  a  few  strips  of  steel, 
any  one  of  which  might  break,  upset  the  engine,  and 
throw  it  off  the  line.'     So  he  would  cut  away  the 


B  B 

RAILWAY    SPRING   AND   HORSE'S   HOOF. 


central  bearing,  as  shown  by  the  dotted  line  at  a, 
and  substitute  heavy  blocks  of  iron,  as  shown  at 
B  B,  thus  abrogating  the  springs,  and  throwing  the 
bearing  to  the  sides  instead  of  the  centre. 

This  proceeding  may  seem  very  absurd,  but  it  is 
not  one  whit  less  ridiculous  than  the  mode  in  which 
the  farrier  of  the  present  time  treats  the  hoof  of  the 
horse,  and,  in  fact,  is  almost  identical  with  it. 

In  fig.  2  a  diagrammatic  section  of  the  hoof  and 


72  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

shoe  is  given,  as  seen  from  the  front.  A  represents 
the  double  frog,  which  was  intended  by  nature  to 
rest  upon  the  ground,  and  form  a  central  bearing  like 
that  of  the  wheel  at  a  in  fig.  1.  This  is  more  or  less 
cut  away,  at  all  events  sufficiently  to  keep  it  off  the 
ground.  Then  a  thick  unyielding  iron  shoe  is  nailed 
on  the  hoof,  so  as  to  take  the  bearing  from  the 
centre,  where  it  was  meant  to  be,  and  to  throw  it 
to  the  circumference,  as  at  B  B,  where  it  has  no 
business,  and  where  it  positively  injures  the  animal 
by  causing  a  jar  at  every  step. 

I  may  here  mention  that  the  space  which  is  left 
between  the  shoe  and  the  wall,  as  shown  at  c  c,  is 
the  place  where  stones  lodge,  and  into  which,  as  we 
know,  they  become  wedged  so  firmly,  that  even  the 
4  picker,'  with  which  all  horse  riders  or  drivers 
ought  to  be  furnished,  cannot  remove  it  without 
the  use  of  considerable  force.  The  reader  will  see 
how  a  stone  which  is  thus  lodged  must  press  upon 
the  denuded  linea  alba,  and  why  it  is  that  a 
horse  falls  suddenly  when  such  a  misfortune  hap- 
pens. 

If  the  reader  will  refer  to  the  natural  hoof  shown 
on  p.  34,  he  will  see  that  no  stone  can  possibly  lodge 
in  it. 

Lastly,  we  will  take  the  third  duty  of  the  frog — 
i.e.   the  power  of  clinging  to  slippery  and  smooth 


THE    HORSE    ON    ICE.  to 

surfaces.  A  hoof  which  has  been  untouched  by  man 
will  scarcely  ever  slip.  This  is  not  theory,  but  a 
proved  fact,  and  here  is  a  case  in  point. 

Mr.  S.  Chapin,  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  U.S.A.,  is  well 
known  for  his  love  of  horses,  and  for  his  practical 
experience  with  them.  Among  his  horses  was  one 
which  he  had  owned  about  seven  years,  and  from 
which,  after  considerable  qualms,  and  against  uni- 
versal advice,  he  removed  the  shoes  altogether. 
After  some  experience  he  wrote  as  follows,  dating 
his  letter  December  15,  1883  : — 

'  I  now  drive  my  horse  up  hill  and  down,  and 
over  pavements,  crossings,  &c.  I  never  expect  to 
see  a  harder  winter  for  ice  than  we  had  here  in 
Lowell  last  year,  when  some  of  my  neighbours 
sharpened  their  horses'  shoes  twice  a  week,  and  I 
drove  all  the  winter  (and  pretty  sharp  too)  without 
a  shoe,  and  without  slipping  either.'  I  have  before 
me  a  long  list  of  English  gentlemen  who  have  much 
the  same  experience. 

Here  is  a  curious  example  of  the  involuntary 
homage  done  by  man  to  nature. 

About  four  years  ago,  in  the  course  of  a  conver- 
sation with  the  late  Mr.  F.  Fordham  Flower,  whose 
successful  crusade  against  the  bearing  rein  is  well 
known,  the  question  of  'roughing'  horses'  shoes  in 
winter  was  mentioned.     Mr.  Flower  said  that  there 


74 


HORSE    AND    MAX. 


was  a  very  much  better  plan  than  roughing — namely, 
the  adoption  of  Hartmann's  Safety  Pad,  which  had 
the  advantage  of  being  easily  removed  when  the 
horse  entered  the  stable  after  his  work. 

He  also  told  me  that,  having  heard  of  this  pad, 
he  took  his  carriage  to  Messrs.  Martingale,  who 
supply  it,  and  had  it  fitted  to  his  horses  at  the  door. 
The  animals  went  so  easily,  although  they  had  pre- 
viously been    slipping   at   every  step,  that  he  took 

them  to  a  spot  where  ice 


had  formed  upon  the  road. 
The  horses  went  over  it  at 
a  trot,  and  from  that  time 
he  had  no  trouble  with 
them. 

I    at     once    went     to 
Messrs.    Martingale,    who 
kindly    gave    me    one    or 
two  specimens,  and  explained  the  mode  of  use. 

As  the  reader  may  see,  the  pad  is  composed  of 
thick  indiarubber,  with  three  thin  steel  flanges.  By 
means  of  a  sort  of  tongs  or  pincers  the  pad  can  be 
bent  longitudinally,  so  as  to  allow  the  flanges  to 
be  slipped  under  the  shoe.  When  the  pressure  of 
the  tongs  is  relaxed,  the  pad  resumes  its  shape  by 
its  own  elasticity,  and  is  firmly  held  in  its  place 
by  the  flanges.     When  the  horse  comes  home,  the 


HARTMANN  S    SAFETY   PAD. 


SAFETY   PADS.  75 

pad,  which  is,  in  fact,  an  artificial  frog,  can  be  removed 
by  the  tongs  as  easily  as  it  was  applied. 

In  the  illustration  the  upper  face  of  the  pad  is 
given,  showing  the  groove  into  which  is  received  the 
frog  which  has  been  cut  according  to  the  modern 
'  improved  '  system.  The  lower  face,  which  comes 
upon  the  ground,  has  no  definite  groove,  but  is 
fashioned  according  to  the  shape  oi  the  untouched 
frog. 

So  we  have  again  an  acknowledgment  that  nature 
is  right  and  man  wrong. 

Ratueallt,  the  horse's  hoof  is  furnished  with  a 
soft  elastic  pad,  which  prevents  the  animal  from  slip- 
ping. So,  man  cuts  away  the  natural  pad,  and  be- 
cause the  horse  slips,  is  obliged  to  furnish  the  iron 
shoe  with  spikes. 

Now,  however  well  these  spikes  are  made,  no 
matter  whether  they  be  part  of  the  shoe  or  whether 
they  be  added  to  it,  they  are  soon  worn  down  and 
become  useless.  In  any  case  they  are  contrary  to 
the  natural  step  of  the  horse,  and  are  awkward  for 
walking.  If  they  be  part  of  the  shoe,  they  cause 
the  greatest  inconvenience  while  the  horse  is  in  the 
stable,  and  if  they  be  screwed  or  driven  into  holes 
made  in  the  shoe,  they  are  apt  to  snap  off  when  any 
great  strain  is  thrown  on  them. 


76  HOESE   AND   MAX. 

The  result  of  all  this  experience  is  that  the  Hart- 
mann's  pad  was  invented.  It  is  liable  to  neither 
of  these  defects,  is  very  lasting,  but  is,  after  all, 
nothing  more  or  less  than  an  artificial  reproduction 
of  the  natural  pad  which  the  farrier  has  cut  away 
in  unthinking  obedience  to  routine.  As  to  expense, 
this  pad  does  not  cost  much,  and  when  it  is  worn 
out,  another  can  be  procured  at  a  small  price.  But 
the  natural  pad,  or  frog,  which  is  necessarily  far 
superior  to  any  imitation,  costs  nothing  at  all,  and 
never  can  be  worn  out,  because  it  has  the  faculty 
of  reproducing  itself  as  fast  as  it  is  worn  away. 

I  noticed  that  in  America  the  fact  that  the  frog 
ought  to  come  to  the  ground  is  more  generally 
recognised  than  is  the  case  in  England.  But  even 
there  the  shoe  is,  as  a  rule,  nailed  upon  the  wall,  so 
that  the  frog  has  to  grow  to  an  abnormal  extent 
before  it  can  reach  the  ground,  and  therefore  does 
not  have  fair  play.  The  only  shoe  which  really 
recognises  the  duties  of  the  frog,  and  does  not  inter- 
fere with  them,  is  the  '  Charlier,'  which  will  pre- 
sently be  described. 

As  for  any  fear  that  the  frog  may  be  injured 
by  contact  with  the  ground,  it  may  be  dismissed 
from  our  minds.  As  was  well  pointed  out  by 
'Kangaroo,'  in  The  Field  newspaper,  it  is  impos- 
sible for  a  horse  to  become  footsore   in   the  frog, 


MANCHESTER    '  LURRY  '    HORSES.  77 

sole,  or  heel  of  its  foot,  as  a  result  of  travelling 
barefoot.' 

I  have  already  mentioned  the  effect  of  the  safety- 
pad,  and  a  fortiori  of  the  frog  upon  ice.  But  icy 
roads  are  only  to  be  found  in  winter  time,  and  that 
not  in  every  year.  I  believe  that  in  the  winter  of 
1883-4  there  was  no  ice  in  the  streets  of  London, 
England  seeming  to  have  sent  her  share  of  ice  and 
snow  to  America,  where  I  was  staying  from  October 
1883  to  April  1884. 

Still,  many  of  our  roads  present  surfaces  which, 
under  certain  conditions,  are  nearly  as  slippery  as 
ice,  even  in  the  warm  weather,  and  on  which  even 
a  man,  who  has  neither  a  weight  to  carry  nor  a  load 
to  draw,  can  hardly  keep  his  footing.  Manchester, 
for  example,  in  dull,  misty  weather  has  a  faculty  of 
producing,  in  combination  with  smoke,  a  sort  of 
greasy  mixture,  which  feels  to  the  feet  as  if  the  road 
and  pavement  had  been  coated  with  lard.  This 
greasiness  is  fearfully  trying  to  horses,  especially  to 
the  magnificent  animals  which  draw  the  great 
*  lurries.'  In  spite  of  the  deep  calks  and  toe  pieces 
with  which  their  shoes  are  armed,  and  which  make 
them  look  as  if  they  were  walking  on  pattens,  they 
slip  and  slide  about  in  a  most  pitiful  manner,  the 
terror  which  they  are  suffering  being  too  plainly 
visible  in  the  expression  of  their  eyes. 


78  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

Yet  I  have  handled  horses  belonging  to  a 
Manchester  physician,  which  trotted  freely  and  easily 
over  this  slippery  surface,  merely  because  their 
owner  was  wise  enough  to  leave  the  hoof  as  nature 
made  it. 

If  any  road  ever  made  by  man  could  damage  a 
horse's  hoof,  those  of  Manchester  would  stand  pre- 
eminent. On  account  of  the  enormous  weights  which 
are  carried  on  the  lurries — i.e.  huge,  broad-wheeled 
waggons,  the  roads  have  to  be  made  of  corresponding 
strength.  Beneath  the  actual  pavement  there  is  a 
thick  layer  of  concrete,  on  which  are  laid  the  granite 
blocks  which  constitute  the  roadway. 

These  blocks  are  shaped  like  gigantic  bricks,  and 
are  laid  on  their  edges,  the  upper  angles  being 
bevelled  off,  so  as  to  leave  a  deep  groove  round  each 
stone.  These  grooves  are  intended  to  prevent  the 
horses  from  slipping,  the  calkins  and  toe  pieces  being 
supposed  to  catch  in  them.  The  effect  on  wheels 
and  shoes  can  only  be  realised  by  actual  experience. 

As  to  wheels,  any  one  who  has  been  obliged  to 
take  a  cab  in  Manchester,  and  to  drive  fast  in  order 
to  catch  a  train,  will  not  be  very  likely  to  forget  his 
experience  for  the  next  day  or  two. 

As  to  shoes.  I  have  before  me  a  lurry-horse- 
shoe which  I  procured  in  Manchester.  It  has  been 
fitted  with  a  bar-calkin  rather  more  than  two  inches 


LUDGATE    HILL.  79 

in  depth,  while  the  front  of  the  shoe  had  a  toe-bar  of 
the  same  depth  and  seven-eighths  of  an  inch  in  thick- 
ness. Yet,  the  toe  -bar,  after  about  three  weeks'  wear, 
has  been  so  rubbed  down  that  scarcely  a  quarter  of 
an  inch  remains. 

Still,  even  this  exceptionally  hard  and  rough  pav- 
ing did  not  injure  the  hoofs  of  horses  which  were 
unprotected  with  iron  shoes. 

Very  smooth  pavements,  such  as  those  of  wood 
and  asphalte,  especially  in  sloping  ground,  are  apt, 
particularly  when  wet,  to  cause  horses  to  slip  and 
fall.  A  very  familiar  example  of  such  a  pavement  is 
to  be  found  in  Ludgate  Hill,  which  is  the  scene  of 
more  accidents  to  horses  than  perhaps  any  other 
track  of  similar  length  in  the  whole  of  London. 

Ludgate  Hill  is  the  terror  of  drivers,  who  speak 
of  it  as  if  it  were  Mont  Blanc.  Yet,  it  is  not  at  all  a 
long  nor  a  steep  hill.  The  length  is  only  about  two 
hundred  yards,  and  the  rise  not  quite  nine  yards — a 
mere  trifle.  Yet,  in  damp,  and  especially  in  'greasy' 
weather  as  it  is  called,  horses  are  constantly  falling 
upon  Ludgate  Hill. 

Fallen  horses  are  so  common  that  few  people 
take  the  trouble  to  stop  and  look  at  their  hoofs.  If 
they  were  to  do  so,  the  cause  of  the  fall  would  be  at 
once  evident. 

The  natural  safety-pad  of  the  hoof,  which  would 


80  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

have  clung  to  the  smooth  and  slippery  surface,  has 
been  cut  away  by  the  farrier,  while  the  under  surface 
of  the  shoe  has  been  rubbed  down  by  friction,  until 
it  offers  only  a  flat  polished  metal  surface,  seldom 
less  than  half  an  inch  in  width,  and  often  more.  Of 
course  the  shoe  slips  and  the  horse  falls.  The  india- 
rubber  pad  would  have  given  the  horse  a  firm  foot- 
ing, and  much  more  so  would  the  natural  safety  pad 
or  frog. 

A  similar  sight  to  that  which  is  described  below 
may  be  seen  on  Ludgate  Hill  on  any  wet  day.  The 
writer  is  Lieut.  W.  Douglas,  late  of  the  10th  Hussars, 
and  therefore  a  competent  observer.  The  passage 
occurs  in  the  preface  to  his  book  on  horseshoeing, 
and  is  quoted  by '  Free  Lance  '  in '  Horses  and  Eoads  : ' 

'  Passing  down  Ludgate  Hill  one  day,  my  atten- 
tion was  drawn  to  the  pitiful  condition  of  a  horse  in 
the  shafts  of  a  large  waggon.  The  poor  animal  was 
not  drawing  the  load,  but  was  being  driven  down  the 
descent  by  the  crushing  weight  behind  ;  and  utterly 
unable,  from  the  manner  in  which  it  was  shod,  to 
withstand  the  pressure,  it  had  gathered  its  hind  legs 
well  under  and  its  fore  legs  in  advance  of  its  body,  in 
a  hopeless  struggle  to  avert  the  fall  which  it  too 
evidently  knew  was  at  hand. 

'  Never  did  I  witness  such  a  picture  of  powerless 
terror  as  that  horse  presented,  as  with  eyes  starting, 


SHIP   SHOES.  81 

body  shaking,  and  knees  stiffened,  it  was  carried 
downwards  against  its  will,  until,  the  fore  and  hind 
feet  slipping  in  the  same  direction,  it  came  down 
upon  its  left  side  with  a  crash.  The  thought  of 
what  that  poor  beast  must  have  suffered,  even  before 
it  fell,  has  haunted  me  ever  since.' 

The  waggon  in  question  seems  to  have  been  un- 
provided with  a  brake,  but  Mr.  Douglas  is  of  opinion 
that  if  the  horse  had  been  allowed  to  possess  its  frogs 
in  their  natural  state,  it  could  even  have  controlled 
the  pressure  from  behind. 

I  never  realised  the  value  of  the  frog  on  a  smooth, 
wet,  sloping  wooden  surface  until  my  second  voyage 
across  the  Atlantic. 

On  the  outward  voyage  I  had  been  greatly  incon- 
venienced, not  to  say  endangered,  by  the  slipperiness 
of  the  deck  and  the  soles  of  my  boots.  '  Sea-legs  ' 
are  very  useful  in  their  way,  but  when  the  vessel 
rolls,  sea-legs  are  quite  useless  in  preventing  the 
voyager  from  sliding  down  the  deck  if  he  be  above, 
or  down  the  saloon  floor  if  he  be  below,  and  in  all 
probability  damaging  himself  seriously  by  being  flung 
against  the  gunwale  or  the  saloon  furniture. 

So,  just  before  the  return  voyage,  I  had  a  slight 
layer  of  vulcanised  indiarubber,  not  thicker  than  an 
ordinary  playing  card,  affixed  to  the  soles  of  the 
boots,  shoes,  and  slippers  which  I  meant  to  wear  on 

G 


82  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

board.  The  effect  was  almost  magical.  We  had  a 
very  rough  passage,  but  even  when  a  promenade  on 
deck  looked  like  walking  on  the  wet  slates  of  a 
house-roof,  the  indiarubber  clung  to  the  smooth 
boards  of  the  deck  above,  or  to  the  carpet  of  the 
saloon  below,  and  I  never  once  had  a  fall. 

This  experience  enabled  me  to  understand  practi- 
cally what  is  the  worth  of  the  frog  to  the  horse,  and 
how  the  working  power  of  the  animal  is  diminished 
by  removing  the  frog,  and  throwing  the  weight  of 
the  horse  upon  the  flat,  smooth  surface  of  the  iron 
hoof. 

As  to  the  calkins  which  are  so  persistently  em- 
ployed as  preventives  of  slipping,  I  shall  soon  have 
something  more  to  say  of  them. 

It  may  seem  almost  incredible  that  the  hoof  of 
the  horse  can  be  strong  enough  to  resist  the  hardest 
or  the  stoniest  road,  and  yet  be  so  wonderfully  con- 
stituted as  to  be  an  organ  of  touch.  Yet,  as  will  be 
seen  from  the  following  narrative,  such  is  really  the 
case. 

Some  five  years  ago  I  had  the  pleasure  of  making 
the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  John  Bellows,  of  Glouces- 
ter, the  author  of  the  celebrated  French  dictionary. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  one  of 
the  few  who  retain  the  phraseology  of  George  Fox's 
day.     Like  most  members  of  the  society,  he  has  a 


THE   HOUSE   AND    THE    CHILD.  83 

great  tenderness  for  animals  and  especially  for  horses, 
and  has  taken  a  pleasure  in  treasuring  authentic 
anecdotes  of  his  favourites.  He  told  me  the  follow- 
ing narrative,  and  at  my  request  committed  it  to 
writing. 

The  reader  will  pardon  the  insertion  of  the  last 
clause,  but  it  is  too  characteristic  to  be  omitted  : — 

East  Gate,  Gloucester  :  December  4,  1879. 

'  When  my  father  was  quite  a  little  child,  of 
perhaps  three  or  four  years  old,  he  horrified  his 
mother  by  trotting  across  the  street  in  front  of  their 
house,  in  the  village  of  Bere  Eegis,  and  tripping  up 
exactly  in  front  of  a  team  of  horses  drawing  a  heavy 
waggon. 

CO 

'  As  he  fell,  the  leader  horse  set  his  great  hoof  on 
the  child's  head,  and  his  mother  expected  to  pick 
him  up  dead.  But  no  !  He  used  to  say  that  all 
his  life  afterwards  he  kept  a  most  distinct  remem- 
brance of  the  soft  and  gentle  touch  of  the  horse's 
foot  pressing  him  to  the  ground  "  like  a  sponge," 
and  holding  him  there  until  his  mother  relieved 
him. 

'  The  horse  had  pulled  up  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye,  and  brought  the  rest  of  the  team  to  a  standstill. 
But  he  knew  that  the  child  was  safer  lying  still  than 
wandering   among   heels  and  wheels  ;  and  there  he 

a  2 


84  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

kept  him,  or  I  should  not  at  this  moment  be  able  to 

sign  myself 

*Thy  sincere  friend,  and  father   of 

several  of  thy  admirers, 

'  John  Bellows.' 

In  this  case,  the  proceedings  of  the  horse  were 
the  more  remarkable,  because  the  hoof  was  shod, 
and  therefore  its  sensitive  capacity  must  have  been 
cramped.  I  am  always  glad  to  receive  information 
from  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  because  their 
scrupulous  regard  for  truth  and  avoidance  of  ex- 
aggeration  gives    to    their   narratives  an  additional 

DO  ~ 

value. 

'  Free  Lance '  puts  the  point  very  well  in  the  follow- 
ing words  :  '  The  frog  is  a  natural  calk,  but  it  must 
have  fair  play.  It  is  pointed  in  front  like  a  plough- 
share to  offer  resistance  in  one  direction.  To  offer 
resistance  in  the  contrary  direction  it  is  semi-cloven, 
and  thus  it  offers  a  double  resistance,  for  the  very 
evident  reason  that  a  horse  needs  more  aid  to  go 
ahead  than  he  does  to  stop  himself.  Yet  the  two 
ends  have  been  rightly  balanced  by  nature,  if  we 
could  only  see  the  thing  as  such.' 

So  much,  then,  for  the  frog  and  its  value  to  horse 
and  therefore  to  man.  The  idea  of  paring  it  for  the 
purpose  of  stimulating  its  growth  is  ludicrously 
absurd.     The  best  way  of  stimulating  the  growth  of 


NAVICULAR   DISEASE.  85 

the  frog  or  of  any  other  organ  is  to  let  it  do  its 
proper  work  without  hindrance. 

There  is  another  objection  to  cutting  away  the 
frog,  but  this,  as  it  relates  to  internal  structure,  the 
illiterate  farrier  is  not  likely  to  know,  nor  to  under- 
stand it  if  he  be  told. 

The  navicular  bone,  the  importance  of  which 
in  the  mechanism  of  the  foot  has  already  been  de- 
scribed, lies  between  the  arms  of  the  V  like  frog, 
and  if  the  frog  be  weakened  by  the  knife,  a  wrong 
strain  is  thrown  on  the  navicular  bone,  which  is  then 
tolerably  sure  to  become  the  seat  of  inflammation. 
Navicular  disease  is  never  found  in  the  wild  horse, 
nor  in  our  own  horses  until  the  farrier  has  worked 
his  will  with  their  hoofs. 


86  HOUSE   AND   MAN. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

Horseshoeing  on  '  improved  principles ' — Hot-fitting — '  Clips '  and  their 
origin — Groove  cutting  in  the  hoof — Natural  thatch  of  the  coronet — 
Natural  varnish  of  the  hoof — Abuse  of  the  rasp — Blacking  hoofs — 
Effect  of  grease  on  the  hoof — '  Stopping'  hoofs — The  'bottle  of  oils' 
— Its  effect  on  the  hoof — Drugs  in  stables — Horses  poisoned — Thirty 
thus  lost  by  one  owner — Anti-drug  Association — The  rashness  of 
ignorance. 

On  account  of  the  extreme  importance  of  the  frog, 
it  has  been  necessary  to  give  a  considerable  amount 
of  space  to  it.  We  will  now  revert  to  the  '  improved 
principles '  of  horseshoeing. 

After  having  seen  the  havoc  which  has  already  been 
made  in  the  hoof  by  the  farrier,  it  might  reasonably 
be  doubted  whether  more  mischief  could  possibly  be 
done,  and  whether  the  hoof  could  be  further  injured. 
Human  ingenuity,  however,  proved  itself  equal  even 
to  this  task,  and  '  hot  shoeing  '  and  '  clipping '  were 
invented,  both,  as  usual,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
horse. 

4  Hot-fitting  '  or  shoeing  is  thus  accomplished. 

1  In  fitting  the  shoe,  the  coaptation  between  it 
and  the  hoof  should  be  as  close  as  possible.     This 


c  HOT-FITTING.'  87 

can  most  readily  be  secured  by  applying  the  shoe 
at  a  high  temperature,  and  for  the  briefest  space  of 
time,  to  the  part  on  which  it  is  to  rest.  By  this 
means  the  inequalities  in  the  horn  can  be  perceived, 
and  removed  by  the  rasp,  and  when  quite  level, 
another  brief  application  of  the  hot  shoe  fuses  the 
horn  into  a  hard  level  surface,  capable  of  resisting 
the  pressure  of  the  metal  during  wear. 

'  This  "  hot-fitting  "  of  the  shoe,  as  it  is  termed, 
is  perfectly  harmless  to  the  unmutilated  hoof,  and 
possesses  such  great  advantages  that  it  is  to  be 
commended.  By  "  cold-fitting  "  it  is  impossible  to 
obtain  such  an  intimate  coaptation  ;  and  even  if  it 
could  be  secured,  the  shoe  would  not  remain  so 
firmly  attached,  as  wet  softens  the  ends  of  the  horn- 
fibres  in  contact  with  the  shoe,  and  they  yield  to 
the  pressure,  the  shoe  loses  its  original  bed,  becomes 
loose,  and  is  cast.  This  is  the  experience  of  those 
who  have  tried  this  kind  of  fitting  most  exten- 
sively.' 

These  directions  were  written  by  one  of  the  first 
authorities  in  veterinary  science — namely,  Professor 
G.  Fleming,  veterinary  surgeon  to  the  2nd  Life 
Guards.  They  occur  in  an  article  written  for  the 
'Live  Stock  Journal  Almanack '  of  1879. 

Any  opinion  of  such  a  writer  is  worthy  of  respect, 
but  when  I  read   these  words  for  the  first  time,  I 


88  HORSE    AND    MAN. 

could  hardly  believe  ray  eyes.  Of  course,  if  time 
were  an  imperative  object,  hot-fitting  would  be  a 
quicker  process ;  but  where  a  few  minutes  are  of  no 
particular  importance,  it  must  be  injurious  to  the 
hoof,  without  ensuring  any  corresponding  advantage. 

I  did  not  like  the  repeated  use  of  the  word  '  co- 
aptation,' just  as  I  always  suspect  the  practical  know- 
ledge of  a  medical  man  when  he  speaks  of  cephal- 
algia being  a  premonitory  symptom  of  incipient 
rubeola,  when  he  might  just  as  well  have  said  that 
headache  was  one  of  the  signs  of  measles. 

Another  point  struck  me — namely,  that  the  '  bed ' 
obtained  by  the  red-hot  shoe  would  not  fit  the  same 
shoe  when  it  was  cold,  owing  to  the  great  expan- 
siveness  of  iron  when  heated.  Again,  though  the 
application  of  the  red-hot  shoe  would  not  give  pain 
to  the  horse  at  the  time,  any  more  than  we  should 
suffer  pain  if  the  tip  of  an  overgrown  finger  nail 
were  scorched,  yet  the  horn  of  the  nail  would  be 
rendered  brittle  for  some  distance  beyond  the  portion 
that  was  actually  burned  away,  and  the  same  would 
be  the  case  with  the  hoof  of  the  horse. 

Lastly,  the  reader  must  have  noticed  that  the 
writer  seems  to  have  had  his  misgivings  about  the 
universal  employment  of  hot-fitting,  and  carefully 
limits  it  to  the  unmutilated  hoof.  The  italics  are 
his  own. 


clips.  89 

I  believe  that  Mr.  Fleming  has  since  abandoned 
the  practice  of  hot-fitting,  but  I  have  quoted  the 
passage  in  order  to  show  how  curiously  habit  will 
overpower  reason,  even  in  a  well- trained  mind. 

His  saving  clause  of  the  unmutilated  hoof  is  quite 
sufficient  to  show  that  the  practice  is  indefensible. 
Where  do  we  ever  meet  with  an  unmutilated  hoof 
except  in  the  case  of  young  horses  who  are  to  be 
shod  for  the  first  time.  Even  in  their  cases  the  hoof 
is  not  in  its  normal  condition,  for  the  animal  has 
passed  all  its  life  on  the  comparatively  soft  and 
smooth  surface  of  a  paddock,  and  the  hoof  has  not 
been  sufficiently  hardened  to  endure  its  proper  work. 

Having  now  scooped  the  sole  to  the  thinness  of 
paper,  cut  away  the  frog,  removed  the  pegs,  lowered 
and  cut  open  the  heels,  and  burned  away  the  wall 
with  red-hot  iron,  so  as  to  make  it  brittle,  and  all 
for  the  benefit  of  the  horse,  the  farrier  has  yet 
another  resource  for  weakening  the  hoof  with  his 
ever-ready  knife. 

In  order  to  save  the  insertion  of  more  nails  than 
necessary  into  the  horn,  which  has  become  honey- 
combed by  nail  holes,  '  clips '  have  been  invented. 

These  are  simply  flat  pointed  projections  from 
the  shoe.  They  can  be  hammered  over  the  hoof 
while   cold,  and  serve  to   hold  the  shoe  to  the  hoof 


90 


HORSE   AND    MAN. 


without  the  use  of  nails.  Clips  are  no  new  inven- 
tion, and  indeed  were  used  for  fastening  the  shoe  to 
the  hoof  long  before  any  one  dreamed  of  hammer- 
ing nails  into  the  horn.  In  fact,  the  original  iron 
shoe  was  simply  a  thin  flat  ring  of  iron  with  three 
clips,  one  coming  over  the  toe,  and  the  other  two 
over  the  quarters. 

If,  then,  the  simple   clip  were   used,  no   direct 
harm  would  be  done  to  the  hoof.     But  the  farrier 


SHOE    WJ1H   CLIPS. 


HOOF   SCOOPED   FOR   CLIPS,   AND 
CLIPPED   SHOE   ON   HOOF. 


likes  to  see  a  '  clean '  hoof,  and  thinks  that  the  look 
of  it  would  be  injured  because  the  clips  would 
slightly  project,  so  he  scoops  a  semicircular  groove 
for  the  reception  of  the  clip. 

These  shoes  which  are  furnished  with  clips 
always  have  one  in  front,  so  that  scooping  the 
groove  entirely  destroys  the  original  contour  of  the 
hoof.  Moreover,  the  hoof  is  weakened  exactly  where 
it  wants  most  strength,  and  what  with  lowering  the 
wall  until  it  is  perilously  near  the  linea  alba,  scorch- 
ing it  brittle  with  red-hot  iron,  and  then  scooping 


T1IREE   CLIPS   AND  TEN   NAIL-HOLES.  91 

a  groove  in  it,  the  farrier  has  done  his  best  to 
produce  seedy  toe,  gravelling,  and  consequent 
founder. 

As  to  cutting  a  groove  to  receive  the  clip  on 
the  quarters,  it  may  be  urged  that  if  the  inside  clip 
were  not  sunk  into  the  hoof  it  would  cut  the  oppo- 
site leg.  So  it  might ;  but  that  is  no  reason  for 
sinking  either  the  toe  clip  or  the  outside  clip  into 
the  hoof,  even  granting  that  either  were  necessary. 
But  in  the  eyes  of  the  ordinary  farrier  external  show 
and  the  fashion  of  the  day  are  everything,  while 
knowledge  of  anatomy,  reason,  and  common  sense 
count  for  nothing. 

So  wedded  are  the  farriers  to  custom,  that  instead 
of  using  the  clips  as  a  succedaneum  for  nails,  they 
use  the  clips  and  the  nails  besides.  There  is  now 
before  me  a  horseshoe  which  I  purchased  from  a 
well-known  forge,  and  which  not  only  has  three 
large  clips,  but  ten  nail-holes  besides,  so  that  the 
grooves  for  the  reception  of  the  clips  not  only 
weaken  the  wall,  but  diminish  the  space  in  which 
nails  can  be  safely  inserted. 

As  to  the  nails  themselves,  they  will  be  pre- 
sently mentioned  when  the  shoe  comes  under  con- 
sideration. 

Two  more  methods  of  injuring  the  hoof  are  at 
the  farrier's  disposal  after  the  knife  and  the  red-hot 


92  HOUSE   AND    MAN. 

iron  have  been  employed.  He  has  yet  at  his  com- 
mand the  scissors  and  the  rasp. 

The  reader  will  remember  that  the  wall  of  the 
hoof  is  secreted  from  the  coronary  ring,  or  band, 
which  is  necessarily  a  vascular  and  consequently  a 
sensitive  structure,  and  the  blood,  by  passing  through 
it,  is  converted,  by  a  chemical  process  far  beyond 
the  reach  of  man,  into  horny  fibres.  It  is,  in  fact, 
analogous  to  the  root  of  the  human  nail.  In  order 
that  this  structure  shall  be  protected  from  rain,  snow, 
and  wind,  it  is  furnished  with  a  sort  of  a  roof  or 
penthouse  of  hair.  For  some  reason  or  other,  the 
farrier  dislikes  this  covering,  and  therefore  cuts  it 
away  with  his  scissors. 

Then  the  rasp  has  its  turn.  First,  the  man 
goes  round  the  edge  of  the  hoof,  so  as  to  file  the 
hoof  level  with  the  shoe.  It  is  so  easy  to  do  this, 
that  one  writer  on  horseshoeing,  being  aware  that 
the  farrier  will  rasp  the  edge  out  of  mere  habit, 
recommends  that  the  shoe  should  be  made  a  little 
larger  than  is  needful,  so  that  the  shoe  may  be  filed 
level  with  the  hoof,  and  not  vice  versa,  as  is  mostly 
the  case. 

Having  filed  all  round  the  hoof,  the  farrier  next 
thinks  it  necessary  to  go  over  the  entire  surface. 

Nature  has  covered  the  hoof  with  a  sort  of 
shining  varnish,  which  permits  the  passage  of  air, 


BLACKING    TIIE    HOOF.  93 

but  yet  defends  the  structure  from  wet.  This 
varnish  seriously  offends  the  eye  of  the  farrier,  who 
proceeds  to  remove  it  with  his  file.  I  have  before 
me  a  number  of  hoofs,  and  only  one  of  them  does 
not  show  file  marks  over  the  entire  surface.  That 
hoof,  however,  belonged  to  an  unshod  Circassian 
horse,  and  man  has  never  tampered  with  it. 

The  farrier  is  at  last  satisfied  with  his  work.  He 
has  made  '  a  nice,  clean  foot,'  and  the  animal  is 
taken  away  to  its  stable.  Now  the  groom  has  his 
turn  at  spoiling  the  hoof,  and  all  with  the  best  inten- 
tions towards  the  horse. 

Hoofs  are  naturally  mottled  with  various  shades 
of  brown,  grey,  and  black,  while  in  some  places  they 
may  be  nearly  white.  This  mottling,  however,  does 
not  please  the  eye  of  the  groom,  who  considers  that 
the  hoof  of  the  horse  and  his  own  boots  on  "lit  to 
match  each  other.  So,  with  grease  and  lampblack, 
he  blackens  and  polishes  the  hoof,  and  then  thinks 
that  he  has  done  his  duty  by  his  horses.  It  is  a 
very  dirty  and  disagreeable  process,  so  the  very  fact 
that  he  does  undertake  it  shows  that  he  really  thinks 
that  the  horse  is  improved  by  it. 

True,  for  a  short  time,  and  if  the  road  should 
happen  to  be  in  good  condition,  the  hoofs  retain 
their  polished  blackness  ;  but  if  the  road  should  be 


94  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

dry,  they  will  soon  be  covered  with  dust,  which  sticks 
to  the  greasy  surface,  and  gives  it  exactly  the  neg- 
lected and  untidy  appearance  which  the  groom  has 
tried  to  avoid. 

Then,  after  the  horse  has  been  taken  back  to  the 
stable,  cleaning  the  hoof  is  as  disagreeable  and  dirty 
a  process  as  blacking  it,  whereas  dust  cannot  adhere 
to  the  natural  varnish,  and  the  hoof  can  be  easily 
cleaned  by  a  wet  cloth. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  worst  result  of  grease 
and  lampblack,  which  would  work  no  great  harm 
if  they  merely  caused  additional  trouble  to  the 
groom,  but  absolute  damage  to  the  hoof  is  done  by 
the  grease.  The  groom,  placing  the  hoof  of  the 
horse  on  a  level  with  his  own  boots,  has  no  idea  that 
the  former  needs  more  consideration  of  treatment 
than  the  latter.  He  has  no  idea  that  transpiration 
takes  place  through  the  hoof,  and  that  the  grease 
chokes  up  the  pores  in  the  horn,  and  so  prevents  the 
needful  transpiration  from  taking  place. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  stoppage  of  these 
pores,  and  the  check  to  transpiration,  causes  the  hoof 
to  become  hot  and  feverish,  just  as  is  the  case  with 
ourselves  when  perspiration  is  checked.  The  horn, 
too,  cannot  be  properly  formed,  and  becomes  brittle. 

Then  the  groom  sets  to  work  to  'soften'  the  hoof, 
which  is  the  very  thing  that  ought  not  to  be  done, 


*  STOPPING  '    THE    HOOF.  95 

and  proceeds  to  '  stop  '  it — i.e.  to  fill  the  cavity  with 
some  mixture  which  has  been  recommended  to  him, 
and  on  the  virtues  of  which  he  implicitly  relies. 
Fresh  cowdung  is  the  usual  material  employed  for 
stopping  hoofs,  the  groom  having  an  idea  that 
because  it  is  soft  it  is  cooling,  whereas  it  really  is 
heating  in  its  effects. 

Then,  most  grooms  possess  some  special  hoof- 
ointment,  and  there  is  hardly  one  who  has  not  a 
'  bottle  of  oils '  to  which  he  pins  his  faith  with  a 
blind  trust  deserving  a  better  cause.  How  the  '  oils  ' 
are  supposed  to  act  on  the  hoof  he  does  not  know, 
nor  care  to  know,  and,  as  a  rule,  he  is  personally 
affronted  if  any  one  wishes  to  teach  him  anything  of 
which  he  is  ignorant. 

So  he  goes  on  stopping  the  hoofs  with  his 
mixtures,  and  dressing  them  with  his  ointments  and 
oils,  which,  as  Mr.  G.  Eansom  says,  '  are  used  more 
openly  than  medicines,  and  are  even  highly  approved 
by  some  owners. 

'  First  among  them  rank  hoof-ointments,  be  they 
either  a  secret  with  the  stablemen  or  a  patent.  It 
does  not  make  much  difference  which,  as  to  their 
non-ability  or  rather  their  positive  insalubrity.  They 
almost  always  consist  of  admixtures  of  some  or  all  of 
the  following  ingredients :  Tar,  bees-wax,  train-oil, 
tallow,  suet,  and  honey.' 


96  HORSE    AND    MAN. 

He  then  proceeds  to  endorse  a  statement  made 
by  another  authority,  who  boldly  says  that  if  these 
applications  were  made  daily  and  not  occasionally, 
the  horse  would  not  in  six  months'  time  have  enough 
sound  horn  left  in  the  hoof  to  hold  a  nail. 

The  injury  which  is  done  to  horses  by  the  well- 
meant  but  reckless  treatment  of  their  hoofs  by 
ignorant  and  therefore  conceited  men  is  so  great, 
that  no  groom  or  stableman  ought  to  be  allowed 
even  to  possess  a  hoof-ointment,  or  *  oils,'  or  any 
similar  preparation,  or  to  apply  anything  to  the 
hoof  which  he  has  not  received  from  the  veterinary 
surgeon  whom  his  master  employs,  and  in  the  appli- 
cation of  which  he  does  not  strictly  follow  the 
surgeon's  orders. 

It  is  necessary  that  the  rule  against  the  posses- 
sion of  drugs  or  applications  of  any  nature  should 
be  enforced  most  rigidly,  and  that  the  slightest 
infringement  of  this  rule  should  be  visited  by  instant 
dismissal  and  forfeiture  of  wages,  without  the  hope 
of  forgiveness  or  of  being  reinstated  at  any  future 
time.  No  other  plan  is  of  the  slightest  avail,  and 
every  servant  who  is  employed  about  the  horse  in 
any  capacity  should  be  compelled  to  sign  a  clause  to 
that  effect  before  he  is  engaged. 

Not  only  do  the  men  apply  remedies  to  the 
hoof,  but    they   procure    and    administer    drugs    of 


DRUGS   IN   STABLES.  97 

the  most  poisonous  character.  Their  rashness  and 
presumption  are  almost  incredible.  Here  are  two 
extracts  which  I  cut  from  the  police  columns  of  a 
daily  paper : — 

'  Caution  to  Farm  Servants. — On  Monday  last  a 

waggoner  in  the  employ  of  Mr.  H was  charged 

before  the  magistrates  with  administering  poisonous 
drugs  to  his  master's  horses,  and  was  sent  to  gaol  for 
one  month  with  hard  labour.  The  poisons  con- 
sisted of  savine  and  sheep  salve.  We  hope  this 
notice  will  act  as  a  warning;  to  others  holding  similar 
situations,  and  who,  we  fear,  are  too  often  guilty  of 
the  like  dangerous  practice,  for  the  sake  of  making 
the  horses  look  bright,  at  the  expense  and  risk  of 
their  valuable  lives.' 

'At    the   Petty  Sessions    to-day,  W J , 

servant  to  Mr.   H ,   farmer,   was    charged    with 

administering  a  poisonous  compound  to  his  master's 
horses,  and  on  conviction  the  magistrates  fined  him 
3/.  An  expert  stated  that  antimony  was  the  prin- 
cipal ingredient,  and  that  the  poison  had  been  given 

to  produce  a  glossy  skin.      Three  of  Mr.   II 's 

horses  had  died  through  this  practice.' 

The  reader  has  doubtless  noticed  that  in  neither 
of  these  cases  was  the  horse  intentionally  injured. 
Had  it  been  so,  the  punishment  would  have  been 
much  more  severe.     So  far  from  wishing  to  be  cruel 

ii 


98  HORSE    AND    MAN. 

to  the  horses,  the  men  evidently  wished  to  benefit 
them,  and  only  treated  the  animals  with  the  same 
recklessness  with  which  they  would  have  treated 
themselves  or  their  friends. 

I  have  had  large  experience  among  the  poor  and 
uneducated,  and  have  always  been  struck  with 
the  curious  fact  that  as  regards  medicines  they  will 
much  rather  take  the  opinion  of  persons  in  their  own 
rank  of  life  than  that  of  the  President  of  the  College 
of  Physicians,  and  never  seem  able  to  overcome  a 
lurking  distrust  of  any  one  who  is  better  educated 
than  themselves. 

Arsenic,  corrosive  sublimate,  nitre,  aloes,  and 
drugs  of  a  similarly  powerful  character  are  among  the 
medicines  which  the  groom  likes  to  have  by  him,  and 
which  he  will  administer  as  often,  and  in  such  quan- 
tities, as  may  happen  to  please  him.  So  the  only  plan 
is  not  only  to  forbid  to  the  servants  the  administra- 
tion of  any  drugs  or  applications,  but  to  make  even 
the  possession  of  them  a  ground  for  instant  dismissal. 

'  So  nearly  related,'  writes  Mr.  J.  Irvine  Lupton, 
'  are  the  quantity  of  aloes  which  relaxes  and  the 
amount  which  kills,  that  probably  aloes  have 
poisoned  more  horses  than  all  other  drugs  in  the 
Pharmacopoeia.'  After  entering  into  the  anatomical 
details  of  the  horse's  digestive  organs,  and  the  effect 
of  this  drug  upon  them,  he  proceeds  as  follows :  — 


THE    RECKLESSNESS   OF    IGNORANCE.  99 

*  Aloes  and  nitre  are  the  chief  perils  of  the  stable. 

'  More  horses  have  diseases  of  the  kidneys  through 
the  abuse  of  nitre  than  would  be  effected  if  left 
entirely  to  Nature.  As  to  aloes,  the  poisonous  and 
perilous  nature  of  that  drug  has  already  been  dwelt 
upon  ;  the  pitiable  infatuation  with  which  grooms 
regard  it  constitutes  one  of  the  heaviest  and  needless 
extravagances  of  every  hunting  establishment.' 

Mr.  Ransom  mentions  that  in  1879  a  number  of 
Lincolnshire  farmers  met  together  and  formed  them- 
selves into  a  society  for  suppressing  the  administration 
of  poisonous  drugs  to  horses  by  servants.  One  of 
the  members  stated  that  he  had  lost  more  than  thirty 
horses  by  this  practice. 

It  would  have  been  better  if  the  word  'poisonous' 
had  been  omitted,  and  that  all  drugs  had  been  pro- 
hibited. 

Ignorant  men  cannot  be  expected  to  discriminate 
between  poisonous  and  harmless  drugs,  nor  to  be  at 
all  nice  as  to  the  amount  which  they  administer  or 
the  ailment  for  which  they  administer  it.  To  them 
a  drug  is  '  physic,'  and  therefore  a  panacea,  and  they 
will  with  astonishing  complacency  administer  the 
same  '  physic '  to  a  horse,  or  a  cow,  or  a  pi<?,  or 
themselves,  or  their  babies,  without  the  least  refer- 
ence to  the  composition  of  the  '  physic  '  or  the  nature 
of  the  ailment. 

H  2 


100  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

A  mother,  for  example,  will  find  that  her  baby  is 
not  looking  well,  and  thinks  that  it  wants  '  physic.' 
So  she  remembers  that  last  year  her  husband  had 
some  physic  from  the  dispensary,  but  did  not  quite 
finish  it.  Accordingly,  she  had  put  the  remainder 
away,  lest  it  should  be  wasted,  and  now  gives  it  to 
her  baby,  who  may  be  suffering  from  teething,  or 
whooping  cough,  or  measles,  or  chicken-pox.  Any 
experienced  dispensary  surgeon  has  seen  plenty  of 
such  cases. 

The  clergyman  of  the  parish  would  not  dare  to 
do  such  a  thing,  because  he  is  sufficiently  educated 
to  know  and  acknowledge  his  own  ignorance  of 
medicine.  It  must  be  evident,  therefore,  that  half- 
measures  are  useless,  and  that  if  a  horse-owner  does 
not  wish  to  have  his  horses  poisoned  by  drugs  or 
lamed  by  ointment  and  oils,  his  only  plan  is  to  for- 
bid them  absolutely. 


101 


CHAPTER  YIL 

The  shoe — Artificial  roads  and  artificial  protection — Variety  in  roads — 
Straw  shoes  of  Japan — Raw  hide  or  'parfleche'  shoes  of  North 
American  Indians — Shoe  nails — Their  ordinary  size  and  number 
employed — Diminishing  thickness  of  wall — An  old  Scotch  law — The 
'  unilateral '  system — A  hoof  prepared  on  the  '  improved  system  ' — 
A  mangled  hoof  restored  by  Nature — The  dangers  of  shoe  Dails — 
Cut  nails  and  forged  nails — A  remarkable  accident — Effect  of  a  heavy 
shoe  on  the  horse — '  Harden  '  and  the  dead  heat — Effect  of  a  heavy 
shoe  on  the  muscles — Lancashire  clogs  and  French  '  sabots  ' — Cete- 
wayo  and  followers  in  England — The  '  lurry  '  horses  and  their  shoes — 
Lieut.  Douglas's  calculations — Loosened  hoofs. 

Having  now  treated  of  the  hoof,  we  will  pass  to  the 
shoe. 

The  object  of  the  shoe  is  to  benefit  the  horse  by 
protecting  its  hoofs  against  the  hard  artificial  roads 
of  civilised  countries.  It  is  always  assumed  that 
such  protection  is  necessary,  because,  although  the 
horse  might  do  very  well  without  these  appen- 
dages in  its  native  pastures,  it  must  need  shoes 
when  it  is  brought  under  such  different  conditions, 
and  has  to  traverse  stone-paved  roads  when  it  carries 
a  rider  or  draws  a  vehicle. 

If  such   assumption   be  justified,   all  we  should 


102  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

have  to  do  would  be  to  invent  a  shoe  which  will  pro- 
tect the  whole  of  the  hoof  and  at  the  same  time  will 
not  interfere  with  its  proper  functions.  But,  at  the 
very  outset,  we  are  met  with  difficulties.  If  all  roads 
were  alike,  nothing  could  be  simpler,  and,  as  one 
writer  observes,  '  The  ingenuity  of  man  would  de- 
vise horseshoes  to  travel  over  glass,  were  glass  the 
only  pavement  in  use.' 

But  all  roads  are  not  alike.  There  are  hilly  and 
level  roads,  and  even  these  are  not  alike.  Nothing 
can  be  more  dissimilar  than  the  chalk  and  flint-paved 
hills  of  Derbyshire,  or  the  hard  stony  hills  of  North 
Staffordshire.  The  level  roads  of  flat  country  have 
all  their  distinctive  points  of  dissimilarity,  and  so 
have  the  roads  of  cities ;  the  hard,  uneven  granite- 
paved  roads  of  Manchester,  for  example,  having  little 
in  common  with  the  asphalte  and  wood  of  the 
London  streets.  Again,  all  hoofs  are  not  the  same 
in  quality,  some  being  hard  and  tough,  while  others 
are  weak  and  brittle. 

Possibly  for  these  reasons,  the  variety  of  horse- 
shoes that  have  been  produced  by  '  the  ingenuity  of 
man  '  is  beyond  all  calculation.  One  man  alone  has 
invented  twenty  different  forms,  a  tolerably  good 
proof  that  nineteen  of  them  were  faulty,  and  would 
damage  rather  than  benefit  the  horse. 

A  very  important  point  in  horseshoeing  is  the 


STRAW   AND    HIDE    SHOES.  103 

method  by  which  the  shoe  is  attached  to  the  hoof. 
It  must  be  clear  to  every  one  that  in  proportion  as 
the  hoof  is  injured  by  the  operation,  the  shoe  must 
be  a  bad  one.  The  Japanese  have  a  very  simple  and 
ingenious  mode  of  shoeing  horses.  The  animals  are 
not  shod  at  all,  according  to  our  ideas — that  is,  the 
shoe  is  not  attached  permanently  to  the  hoof. 

But,  on  a  journey,  a  ridei  or  driver  is  provided 
with  a  number  of  shoes  made,  not  of  iron,  but  of 
straw.  They  are  not  made  only  to  surround  the 
hoof,  so  as  to  throw  the  weight  of  the  animal  on  the 
wall,  but  are,  in  fact,  thick  sandals  made  of  closely 
plaited  straw,  and  tied  on  the  foot  by  thongs. 

Their  cost  is  a  mere  trifle,  and  when  they  are 
worn  out  they  are  thrown  away  and  another  set 
substituted  for  them  if  needed.  They  are  only  used 
when  required,  so  that  the  sides  of  a  bad  piece 
of  road  are  always  strewn  thickly  with  worn-out 
sandals,  while  scarcely  any  are  to  be  found  on  the 
good  portions. 

In  North  America,  shoes  of  a  similar  nature  are 
employed.  They  are  not,  however,  made  of  straw, 
but  of  the  all-useful  raw  bison  hide  called  'parfleche,' 
and,  except  in  shape,  are  identical  with  the  moccasins 
which  are  used  by  the  hunters,  whether  they  be 
white  or  red  men. 

As  to  iron  shoes,  the  only  kind  which  does  not 


104  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

injure  the  hoof  is  the  three-clamped  ring  which  has 
already  been  mentioned.  Nails,  however  few  or  slight, 
however  well  they  may  be  made,  or  how  skilfully 
they  may  be  driven,  must  injure  the  wall,  even  if  it 
be  perfectly  sound  and  hitherto  untouched. 

If  the  hoof  were  a  mere  solid,  self-renewing  block 
of  horn,  without  any  particular  structure,  no  very 
great  harm  would  ensue,  as  the  nails  would  only 
make  holes  which  would  be  soon  filled  up  again. 
But  the  only  part  of  the  hoof  into  which  a  nail 
can  be  driven  is  the  wall,  which  is  made,  as  has 
been  said  before,  of  flat  fibres  laid  side  by  side. 

Now,  all  shoenails  are  made  on  the  principle 
of  the  wedge,  and  if  a  wedge  be  driven  between 
parallel  fibres,  it  must  tear  them  apart.  The  rent 
thus  made  is  of  course  most  conspicuous  at  the 
nail-hole,  but  is  necessarily  continued  above  and 
below  it. 

On  an  average,  eight  nails  are  used  in  a  shoe, 
and  on  an  average  each  nail  is  at  least  one- eighth  of 
an  inch  in  thickness.  So,  by  inserting  these  nails, 
the  farrier  is  driving  a  full  inch  of  iron  among  the 
fibres  of  the  wall,  tearing  them  apart  at  the  nail-holes, 
and  crushing  them  together  at  each  side,  thus  de- 
stroying the  whole  character  of  the  horn.  Then, 
after  the  shoes  have  been  removed  and  replaced  a 
few  times,  the  horn  becomes  so  weakened  that  it  will 


AN   OLD    LAW.  105 

not  hold  nails  unless  they  are  driven  higher  into 
the  wall,  where  sound  horn  is  still  to  be  obtained. 

Again,  this  practice  would  not  be  very  hurtful 
were  the  hoof  solid,  or  if  the  wall  were  the  same 
thickness  throughout ;  but,  as  the  reader  may  see 
from  the  section  figured  on  p.  40,  the  wall  dimi- 
nishes in  thickness  up  to  the  coronary  ring,  where 
it  becomes  a  mere  edo;e  of  horn. 

Not  only  does  it  diminish  in  thickness,  but  in 
strength,  so  that  just  below  the  coronary  ring  it 
is  as  comparatively  soft  as  is  the  horn  at  the  base 
of  our  nails.  It  also  increases  in  sensitiveness,  so 
that  there  is  very  great  danger  of  '  pricking '  the 
vascular  portions,  and  therefore  of  laming  the  horse 
at  the  least,  even  if  worse  results  do  not  ensue. 
Many  cases  have  been  known  where  the  result  of 
a  prick  has  been  the  death  of  the  animal  through 
lockjaw. 

In  former  times  there  used  to  be  a  law  in  Scot- 
land that  if  the  shoer  pricked  a  horse,  he  was  obliged 
to  nurse  the  animal  until  it  had  recovered,  and  to 
provide  an  efficient  substitute  as  long  as  the  victim 
of  his  carelessness  was  unable  to  work.  If  the  horsev 
died  from  the  wound  or  its  results,  an  equally  good 
one  must  be  given  to  the  owner.  I  very  much  wish 
that  such  a  law  could  be  re-introduced  and  acted 
upon  throughout  the  United  Kingdom. 


106  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

There  is  now  before  me  a  hoof,  kindly  presented 
to  me  by  Mr.  G.  Eansom  ('  Free  Lance '),  in  which 
one  of  the  nail-holes  is  exactly  an  inch  and  a  quarter 
above  the  edge  of  the  hoof,  so  that  the  nail  must  have 
passed  quite  close  enough  to  the  vascular  laminae  to 
cause  pressure  on  them,  and  therefore  to  give  pain. 

This  hoof  is  peculiarly  instructive,  because  it  has 
been  shod  on  what  in  veterinary  language  is  called 
the  '  unilateral  system,'  in  English  the  one-sided,  plan, 
the  shoe  having  been  nailed  only  on  one  side  and 
on  the  toe.  I  have  exhibited  it  throughout  England, 
Scotland,  and  a  great  part  of  America,  and  have  al- 
ways found  that  the  spectators  were  greatly  struck 
with  the  torn  and  battered  horn  of  the  nailed  side, 
and  the  clear,  firm,  and  beautifully  grained  horn  of 
the  untouched  side. 

Originally,  the  shoes  had  been  nailed  all  round  as 
usual,  but  on  the  sound  side  all  the  nail- holes  have 
disappeared,  with  the  exception  of  one,  whose  posi- 
tion is  externally  indicated  by  the  crack  in  the  fibres 
above  it.  The  person  who  prepared  the  hoof  has 
unfortunately  polished  and  trimmed  it,  but  the 
damage  which  he  has  thereby  done  to  the  hoof  as 
a  specimen  is  partially  compensated  by  the  promi- 
nence which  is  given  to  the  '  grain '  of  the  fibres, 
and  the  ease  with  which  an  injury  to  them  can  be 
traced. 


THE  FARRIERS  HANDIWORK. 


10T 


I  possess  another  hoof  stili  retaining  the  shoe. 
On  looking  at  the  interior  of  the  hoof,  it  may  be  seen 
that  one  of  the  nails  has  passed  through  the  linea 
alba,  or  quick  of  the  nail,  so  that  the  pain  which 
the  horse  must  have  suffered  can  hardly  be  ima 
gined. 

I  have  here  assumed  that  the  farrier  is  putting  a 
shoe   on  a  hoof  that  has  not  been  touched  by  the 
knife.     Even  in  such  a  case,  the 
greatest  care  is  required  in  order  j 

to  avoid  accidents.  But,  sup- 
pose that  even  the  most  skilful 
farrier  in  the  world  were  re- 
quired to  put  a  shoe  on  such  a 
hoof  as  that  which  is  shown  in 
the  accompanying  illustration,  he 
would  find  the  task  almost  im- 
possible. 

Some  persons  might  say  that 
this  drawing  was  heightened  by  the  artist  in  order 
to  produce  more  effect. 

Now,  there  is  nothing  more  abhorrent,  even  to 
a  novice  in  any  branch  of  science,  than  '  heightening  ' 
or  '  colouring  '  a  statement.  But,  in  order  to  avoid 
even  the  suspicion  of  colouring,  the  drawing  is  an 
exact  copy  of  a  photograph  which  was  sent  to  me 
by  the  late  Mr.  A.  F.  Astley,  who  also  furnished  me 


HOOF   OP   MR.   HEBBKRT 

SMITHS   HORSE. 

(Seepage  188.) 


108 


HORSE   AND    MAN. 


with  the  name  of  the  owner.  The  hoof  in  ques- 
tion is  that  of  the  left  fore-foot,  and  that  of  the 
right  fore  foot  had  been  quite  as  badly  treated  by 
the  farrier's  knife. 

By  way  of  contrast,  I  give  a  figure  of  a  hoof  as 
it  ought  to  be.  This  is  taken  from  another  photo- 
graph sent  to  me  by  Mr.  Astley.  The  hoof  had 
originally  been  as  badly  maltreated  as  the  former 
specimen,  but  when  released  from 
the  knife,  the  rasp,  the  nail,  and 
the  shoe,  it  returned  in  a  few 
months  to  its  original  shape. 

I  especially  wish  the  reader 
to  remark  that  throughout  this 
work  I  place  actual  facts  before 
him,  and  do  not  air  my  own 
theories,  fancifully  illustrated  by 
an  obliging  artist. 
There  is  a  peculiar  danger  about  shoe-nails  which 
is  little  suspected.  '  Cut '  nails,  as  everyone  knows, 
are  far  cheaper  than  forged  nails,  and  for  many  pur- 
poses, especially  in  carpentering,  are  quite  as  useful. 
But,  for  horseshoeing,  they  are  terribly  dangerous. 
Cut  nails  are  made  by  rolling  sheets  of  iron  to  the 
requisite  thickness,  and  then  punching  the  nails  out 
of  the  sheets,  much  as' steel  pens  are  made,  and  as 
military  gun-caps  were  made  before  the  breech  loading 


HOOF.   NEARLY    TERPECT, 
MR.    LUCK'S   HORSE. 


SH0J3-NAILS.  109 

rifle  came  into  use.  Now,  the  effect  of  this  rolling 
and  punching  is  to  produce  '  lamination ' — i.e.  the 
iron  forms  itself  into  layers.  These  layers  do  not 
show  themselves  in  the  nail  until  it  is  used.  Then, 
however,  the  blows  of  the  hammer  cause  the  laminae 
to  separate,  and  so  it  happens  that  the  nail  has  a 
double  or  even  treble  point.  In  one  case  a  nail 
acted  in  a  most  curious  manner.  It  was  rightly 
placed,  and  came  out  on  the  exterior  of  the  hoof, 
just  where  it  was  expected.  But  the  horse  went 
lame  after  shoeing,  and  when  the  shoe  was  removed 
in  order  to  find  the  cause,  a  most  unexpected  acci- 
dent was  discovered.  The  nail  had  split  so  as  to 
look  like  the  capital  letter  Y.  One-half  had  followed 
the  right  direction,  but  the  other  had  turned  inwards 
and  passed  through  the  edge  of  the  coffin  bone  a 
little  way  from  the  toe,  so  that  it  lodged  among  the 
sensitive  lamina?. 

If  this  had  been  all,  the  horse  might  have  been 
saved,  but  in  removing  the  shoe  in  the  usual  manner, 
the  inner  fork  of  the  Y  was  broken  off  and  left  in  the 
toe.  The  result  was  that  in  a  few  days  the  horse 
died  from  lockjaw. 

No  fault  was  to  be  found  with  anyone,  as  the  nail 
was  correctly  driven,  and  to  all  external  appearance 
everything  was  right.  That  the  lamination  produced 
by  rolling  the  iron  into  sheets  and  increased  by  the 


110  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

punching  of  the  nail  should  lead  to  such  a  result 
could  not  have  been  expected  at  the  time,  though 
for  the  future  any  farrier  who  wilfully  uses  cut 
instead  of  forged  nails  ought  to  be  held  responsible 
for  any  damage  to  the  horse. 

While  I  was  in  America  I  saw  some  horseshoe 
nails  which  were  beautifully  made.  They  were 
hand-forged,  and  so  tough  that  they  could  be  twisted 
when  cold  into  a  screw,  and  then  twisted  back  again 
without  breaking  or  even  showing  a  crack.  They 
were  of  course  more  expensive  than  the  rolled  and 
cut  nails,  but  if  nails  similarly  made  had  been  used 
in  the  above-mentioned  case,  the  horse  would  not 
have  been  lost. 

These  nails  were  shown  to  me  in  a  railway  car, 
and  I  should  have  liked  to  have  secured  a  few 
specimens,  but  could  not  do  so.  But  I  have  an  in- 
distinct idea  that  they  are  called  Putnam  nails — at 
least,  there  is  a  nail  which  goes  by  that  name,  and 
which  seems,  from  its  description  and  appearance, 
to  be  similar  to,  if  not  identical  with,  the  nails  which 
I  saw. 

Another  evil  of  the  shoe  is  its  weight.  What 
effect  that  weight  has  upon  the  sinews  and  muscles 
of  the  leg  has  already  been  mentioned,  as  well  as  the 
needless  and  additional  work  which  is  thrown  on  the 
animal. 


THE   TIlirLE    'DEAD-HEAT.'  Ill 

We  feel  it  ourselves  when  we  run,  and  all  who 
have  given  any  time  to  foot-racing  are  practically 
aware  of  the  necessity  of  having  the  shoe  and 
running  sock  made  as  light  as  possible.  Indeed, 
some  pedestrians  dispense  with  even  the  light  shoe 
and  sock,  and  run  barefoot.  A  valuable  proof  of 
this  fact  occurred  in  18S2.  In  the  '  Sandown  Derby,' 
a  most  remarkable  event  occurred,  no  less  than  three 
horses  coming  in  together  and  running  a  dead  heat. 
Of  course  the  dead  heat  had  to  be  run  out,  and  all 
three  horses  started  for  it.  During  the  interval,  the 
owner  of  one  of  them,  named  '  Marden,'  took  off  even 
the  light  plates  which  are  substituted  for  shoes  before 
a  race.  The  result  was,  that  Marden  won  easily  by 
three  lengths,  the  removal  of  a  few  ounces  of  weight 
from  its  hoofs  having  given  the  animal  an  advantage 
equal  to  the  deduction  of  as  many  pounds  from  the 
weight  of  the  rider. 

As  to  the  injury  caused  to  the  muscles  and  sinews 
of  the  horse  by  depriving  the  hoof  of  its  proper  play, 
and  forcing  the  animal  to  lift  a  useless  weight  from 
the  ground,  we  may  find  a  parallel  among  ourselves. 

If  we  look  at  the  legs  of  a  country  '  clod-hopper,' 
or  of  a  Lancashire  mill-hand  in  England,  or  of  an 
ordinary  labourer  in  France,  we  shall  see  that  from 
the  knee  to  the  ankle  there  is  scarcely  any  develop- 
ment of  muscle,  the  calf  of  the  leg  being  almost  en- 


112  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

tirely  absent.  This  fact  has  been  very  well  hit  oft 
by  Tenniel  in  his  illustrations  to  '  Alice  in  Wonder- 
land,' the  legs  of  '  Father  Williams' '  son  being 
curiously  true  to  nature. 

This  want  of  development  is  due  to  the  structure 
of  the  boots  worn  by  rustics.  They  are  exceedingly 
heavy  to  begin  with,  and  are  made  heavier  by  the 
soil  which  clings  to  them.  Then  the  soles  are  so  un- 
bending that  the  instep  has  no  play,  and  therefore  the 
muscles  of  the  calf  which  work  the  instep  have  so 
little  to  do  that  they  cease  to  be  developed. 

The  wooden  soles  of  the  Lancashire  clogs,  and  the 
wooden  shoes  or  '  sabots '  of  the  French  rustic,  pro- 
duce a  similar  effect,  while  exactly  an  opposite  result 
is  found  in  the  professional  dancer,  the  muscles  of  the 
calf  being  enormously  developed.  The  '  light  fantastic 
toe  '  is  unknown  to  the  field  labourer,  whose  only  idea 
of  dancing  is  a  shuffling  clatter  ;  and  for  the  same 
reason,  leaping  is  to  him  almost  impossible. 

When  Cetewayo  was  in  England,  he  and  his  fol- 
lowers found  the  weight  of  their  shoes  so  fatiguing, 
especially  when  ascending  stairs,  that  after  they  had 
been  for  a  visit  to  any  place  where  stairs  had  to  be 
ascended,  they  were  so  worn  out  that  they  were 
obliged  to  pass  a  day  or  two  prostrate  on  their  straw- 
beds. 

As  with  us,  so  with  the  horse ;  and  every  ounce 


SHOES    OF    'LURRY'    HORSES.  113 

which  is  hung  upon  his  feet  adds  greatly  to  his  day's 
work,  and  helps  to  wear  him  out  before  his  time. 
Common  sense  ought  to  tell  us  that,  even  regarding 
the  horse  as  a  mere  machine,  it  must  be  as  foolish  to 
hang  needless  weights  on  his  feet  as  to  clog  an  en- 
gine after  a  similar  fashion. 

Now,  as  a  rule,  the  weight  of  a  shoe  for  a  carriage- 
horse  is  about  a  pound  and  a  half.  Multiply  this 
weight  by  four,  and  we  can  at  once  see  how  much 
needless  work  has  to  be  done  by  the  mere  exertion  of 
lifting  such  a  weight  from  the  ground. 

As  extreme  cases,  I  may  mention  the  shoes  which 
are  worn  by  the  gigantic  horses  employed  to  draw 
the  Manchester  '  lurry.'  An  ordinary  set  of  '  lurry  ' 
horseshoes  weighs  about  sixteen  pounds,  this  enor- 
mous mass  of  iron  being  thought  necessary  to  protect 
the  hoof  against  the  granite  pavement. 

There  are  some  sets  which  weigh  seven  pounds 
per  shoe — i.e.  twenty-eight  pounds  per  set.  These, 
however,  I  never  saw,  but  accept  the  statement  of 
Lieutenant  Douglas,  in  his  '  Horseshoeing,'  p.  4. 

The  same  writer  makes  a  curious  calculation  of 
the  difference  in  a  horse's  work  when  he  is  shod 
lightly  or  heavily.  The  directors  of  one  of  our  large 
railway  companies  substituted  shoes  weighing  ten 
pounds  per  set  for  those  which  were  double  the 
weight. 


114  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

'  And  what  was  the  result?  Why,  that  the  light 
shoes  wore  longer  than  the  heavy  ones  had  done,  the 
average  of  the  former  being  four  weeks  and  five  days 
each  shoe,  while  the  latter  wore  but  three  weeks  on 
an  average. 

'  But  it  is  not  the  wear  of  iron  so  much  as  the 
wear  of  horseflesh  that  I  am  anxious  to  direct  atten- 
tion to  now.  It  will  be  seen  that  as  the  shoes  which 
were  taken  off  weighed  five  pounds  apiece  when  new, 
these  horses  were  at  once  benefited  by  having  ten 
pounds  less  iron  to  carry  about  with  them. 

'  I  will  not  attempt  to  calculate  what  difference 
two  and  a  half  pounds  of  metal  placed  at  the  end  of 
a  lever  two  and  a  half  feet  long  would  be  equivalent 
to,  but  will  simply  look  at  it  as  ten  pounds  extra 
weight  carried  by  each  animal.  A  horse  when  walk- 
ing lifts  his  feet  all  round  about  thirty  times  a 
minute,  so  that  if  we  allow  the  day's  work  to  last 
eight  hours,  the  difference  in  favour  of  lighter  shod 
horses  is  over  sixty-four  tons.' 

Here  Mr.  Douglas  gives  his  calculations  in  full ; 
but,  as  space  is  valuable,  I  do  not  transcribe  them. 

The  heavy  unyielding  shoe  has  sometimes  a  very 
strange  effect.  I  have  seen  a  'lurry '  horse,  who  had 
not  acquired  the  art  of  lifting  his  weighted  feet  per- 
pendicularly, try  to  walk  as  it  would  have  done  had 
he  been  unshod — i.e.  by  putting  down  the  heel  first, 


A   LOOSENED   HOOF.  115 

and  ending  with  the  toe.  The  result  was  that  the 
hoof  was  becoming  loosened  from  the  foot ;  and  when 
the  horse  raised  its  foot,  the  bones  and  their  sensitive 
laminae  were  drawn  out  of  the  hoofs  so  far  that  the 
vascular  portions  became  visible,  the  foot  sinking 
back  into  the  hoof  when  the  weight  of  the  horse  rested 
upon  it.  The  agony  which  each  step  must  have  cost 
the  horse  is  beyond  the  power  of  description. 


116  HORSE   AND    MAN. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  calk,  or  calkin — Horses  on  pattens — Two  strange  accidents — Calks 
in  America — Supposed  uses  of  the  calk — Mr.  Bowditch's  testimony — 
Weight  thrown  on  the  edge  of  the  coffin  bone — High-heeled  boots 
and  their  effects — The  battle  of  the  shoes — Recognition  of  defects  in 
shoeing — The  Goodenough  shoe  and  its  object — Jointed  shoes — The 
Clark  jointed  shoe — The  screw  shoe — Expansion  and  contraction — 
The  effect  of  the  screw  on  the  hoof — Tips,  and  how  to  fasten  them — 
The  Charlier,  or  '  pre-plantar '  shoe — How  to  apply  it — Usually  too 
large  and  in  danger  of  breaking  and  twisting — Best  length  and  weight 
for  a  Charlier  shoe— Man  versus  Nature — A  series  of  happy  thoughts 
— Their  results  upon  each  portion  of  the  hoof. 

There  is  one  portion  of  the  shoe  which  must  be 
mentioned.  It  is  the  calk,  or  calkin — i.e.  a  projection 
at  the  heel  which  looks  very  much  like  the  high- 
heeled  boots  which  have  destroyed  the  feet  and 
broken  the  health  of  many  a  fashionable  beauty. 
Sometimes,  as  in  the  Manchester  shoe,  which  I  men- 
tioned on  p.  113,  the  calkin  extends  across  the  back 
of  the  shoe,  connecting  the  ends  together,  and  look- 
ing very  much  as  if  the  blade  of  an  iron  scraper 
had  been  fastened  across  the  heels.  Generally,  how- 
ever, there  are  two  calks,  one  on  each  side  of 
the  heel ;    and,  too    often,  the   blacksmith   has   not 


WALKING    IN    TATTENS.  117 

troubled  himself  to  make  them  exactly  of  the  same 

height. 

I  never  shall  forget  the  first  sight  of  these  astound- 
in  <r  shoes.  To  be  able  to  see  under  the  feet  of  a  horse 
was  an  unknown  experience,  and  in  this  instance  the 
effect  was  heightened  by  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun, 
which  produced  the  most  curious  combinations  of 
lio-ht  and  shade  as  the  horses  raised  or  set  down  their 

feet. 

Lieut.  Douglas,  in  his  usual  incisive  style,  is  very 
emphatic  in  the  condemnation  of  these  shoes  and 
of  calks  altogether.  After  describing  the  sufferings 
of  London  horses  whenever  the  road  is  hilly  and 
happens  to  be  slippery  from  any  cause,  he  proceeds 
as  follows : — 

'  It  is  even  worse  in  Lancashire  and  other  parts 
of  the  North  of  England,  where  horses  are  propped 
up,  as  it  were,  on  short  stilts,  having  calks  both  at 
toes  and  heels. 

'Without  taking  into  consideration  the  extra 
weight  which  the  horse  has  to  carry,  everyone  can 
imagine  how  insecure  the  animal  must  feel  when 
walking  in  these  tripods.  We  can  easily  fancy  how 
we  ourselves  should  feel  if  compelled  always  to  walk 
about  in  pattens  ;  and  yet  I  doubt  whether  we  should 
feel  more  miserable  than  these  horses  do. 

'  Some  may  think  that  I  express  my  feelings  too 


118  HOESE   AND    MAN. 

strongly  on  this  subject,  but  it  is  ever  before  my 
eyes.  I  cannot  move  out  of  doors  without  being 
obliged  to  witness  horses  on  all  sides  of  me  suffering 
from  bearing-reins  or  bad  shoeing.  The  very  day  I 
penned  these  lines,  when  going  down  Cannon  Street, 
I  saw  a  horse  fall  so  suddenly  that  the  pole  of  the 
vehicle  in  rear  passed  through  the  back  of  the  four- 
wheeler  he  was  drawing.  The  poor  animal  never 
tripped  ;  his  legs  flew  from  under  him  to  the  right, 
and  he  fell  upon  his  left  side,  the  wheels  of  the  cab 
being  only  stopped  by  his  body.  The  horse  was  shod 
with  shoes  that  had  high  calks. 

'  This  is  no  solitary  instance.  On  the  very  Friday 
previous,  when  walking  from  Holborn  Circus  to  New- 
man Street,  Oxford  Street,  about  a  mile,  I  saw  no  less 
than  five  cab-horses  down,  all  of  them  falling  on  their 
sides  as  if  they  had  been  shot  dead.  The  streets, 
after  being  watered,  or  a  slight  shower  having  fallen, 
are  as  slippery  as  if  they  were  covered  with  soft  soap, 
and  horses  with  high-heeled  calks  and  wide-webbed 

CD 

shoes  are  quite  helpless  upon  the  granite  pavement. 
These  which  I  saw  fall  could  not  get  up  until  rugs 
had  been  spread  in  front  of  them,  so  that  they  could 
get  a  foothold  and  keep  it.' 

Any  Londoner  who  uses  his  eyes  must  have  seen 
many  such  accidents.  Two  which  I  witnessed  im- 
pressed themselves  very  strongly  on  my  mind. 


TWO   ACCIDEXTS.  119 

One  was  the  fall  of  an  enormous  cart-horse  at  the 
foot  of  Ludo-ate  Hill.  The  animal  had  struggled, 
and  slipped,  and  slidden  all  the  way  down  the  hill, 
until  the  level  ground  was  reached  at  Farringdon 
Street. 

Just  when  everything  was  apparently  safe,  away 
flew  all  the  four  legs  to  the  right,  and  down  came 
the  animal  on  its  side  with  a  tremendous  thud, 
falling  upon  the  chain  trace.  Instantly  the  animal 
plunged  and  struggled  to  its  feet,  and  again  fell  upon 
the  chain  in  a  similar  manner.  The  movements  wTere 
so  quick  and  unexpected,  that  the  horse  fell  four 
times  before  anyone  could  approach,  and  so  heavy 
were  the  falls  upon  the  chain,  that  I  doubt  whether 
the  animal  survived  the  injuries. 

The  other  accident  occurred  to  the  horse  of  a 
hansom  cab,  nearly  opposite  the  General  Post  Office. 
It  was  in  the  winter  time,  and  a  slight  thaw  had 
been  followed  by  a  sharp  frost,  so  that  the  road 
was  exceedingly  slippery.  On  account  of  the  state 
of  the  road,  the  driver  was  only  walking  his  horse, 
the  high  calks  with  which  the  shoes  were  supplied 
being  of  little  if  any  use  upon  the  icy  surface. 

Suddenly  the  horse-  fell  as  if  shot,  and,  slow  as 
was  the  pace  at  which  the  animal  had  been  going, 
the  fallen  horse  slid  for  some  few  yards,  drawing  the 
cab  after  it. 


120  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

The  most  extraordinary  portion  of  the  incident 
was  the  effect  upon  the  driver.  The  fall  of  the  horse 
did  not  appear  to  disconcert  him,  and  he  kept  to  his 
seat  as  long  as  the  cab  was  in  motion.  The  moment 
it  stopped  he  rose  up  slowly,  stooped  forward,  and 
put  the  top  of  his  head  on  the  roof  of  the  cab. 
Then  he  turned  a  somersault  in  the  air,  and  came 
flat  on  his  back  in  the  road  by  the  side  of  his  horse. 
The  deliberation  of  the  movement  was  one  of  the 
most  extraordinary  spectacles  that  I  ever  witnessed. 

I  thought  that  the  man  must  have  been  killed 
on  the  spot,  or  at  lest  stunned  and  insensible.  But 
he  was  hardly  down  before  he  was  up  again.  What 
had  happened,  or  where  he  was,  he  evidently  did 
not  know,  but  he  walked  round  and  round  the  cab 
and  fallen  horse  until  the  inevitable  crowd  sur- 
rounded the  scene  of  accident,  and  shut  him  from 
sight.  However,  after  five  or  six  minutes  had  elapsed 
I  saw  him  again  in  his  seat,  and  driving  slowly  away 
from  the  stand. 

The  uselessness  of  the  calkin g  could  not  have 
been  better  demonstrated.  It  did  not  prevent  the 
heavily-burdened  cart-horse  from  falling  on  a  wet 
road,  nor  the  lightly  burdened  cab-horse  from  a  like 
misfortune  when  the  surface  was  frozen. 

The  object  of  the  calking  is  to  prevent  the  horse 
from   slipping  on  frozen  ground  or  ice.     The  same 


CALKS    EN    AMERICA.  121 

lecturer  who  averred  that  in  America  the  farriers 
did  not  cut  away  the  frog  nor  scoop  the  sole,  also 
asserted  that  in  America  calks  are  not  used. 

Now  I  took  especial  care  to  see  whether  the 
horses  wore  calks  or  not,  and  I  unhesitatingly  say 
that  the  calks  are  quite  as  universal  in  America 
as  in  England,  and  quite  as  deep — possibly  deeper. 
I  asked  why  they  were  worn,  and  was  given  the 
usual  answer — i.e.  that  without  their  use  the  horse 
would  slip  and  probably  fall  on  the  sloping  and 
frozen  roads  of  Boston ;  and  that  horses  who  had  no 
such  protection  did  fall,  and  often  had  to  be  killed. 
Very  much  the  same  reasons  are  given  in  England. 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  the  existence  of  the  calk, 
though  it  may  be  only  a  short  one,  is  tantamount  to 
the  abolition  of  the  frog,  which  may  just  as  well  be 
cut  away  as  left  suspended  above  the  ground.  AVe 
have  already  seen  that  pressure  on  the  frog  is  neces- 
sary for  the  well-being  of  the  horse,  so  that  this  fact 
alone  is  decisive  against  the  calkin. 

But  the  assertion  that  without  the  calk  the  horse 
would  slip  and  fall  is  a  pure  assumption.  If  the 
ordinary  shoe  be  used,  there  is  some  reason  for  the 
statement.  In  winter  time,  as  I  know  from  personal 
experience,  it  is  difficult  even  for  a  man  who  has 
nothing  to  draw  or  carry  to  keep  his  footing  in  the 
streets  of  Boston,  and  horses   shod  in  the  ordinary 


122  HORSE   AND    MAN". 

way  would  have  no  chance  of  doing  their  work. 
Calks  certainly  do  assist  the  animal  to  a  certain 
degree  at  the  time,  but  they  also  inflict  injuries  from 
which  the  horse  is  seldom  free  afterwards,  as  we 
shall  presently  see.  But  even  calks  are  not  infallible. 
I  once  saw  in  New  York,  within  a  distance  of 
two  hundred  yards,  two  horses  lying  dead  in  the 
road,  and  another  so  much  injured  that  it  had 
to  be  killed.  In  two  of  these  cases  the  horse  had 
slipped,  fallen,  and  the  calk  had  become  jammed  in 
the  tram-rails.  The  result  of  the  fall  was  that  the 
pastern  was  snapped,  and  in  one  case  the  hoof  was 
so  twisted  that  the  toe  pointed  to  the  rear. 

Mr.  Bowclitch,  an  American  gentleman  whose  ac- 
quaintance I  had  the  pleasure  of  making,  is  one  of 
those  men  who  think  for  themselves,  and  have  the 
courage  to  act  upon  their  opinions,  without  any  refer- 
ence to  precedent.  Instead  of  making  the  shoe  with 
calks  on  the  heels  he  only  fastened  on  the  toe  a  slight 
semicircular  piece  of  iron,  leaving  the  rest  of  the 
hoof  to  grow  as  Nature  made  it.  During  the  winter, 
when  the  roads  were  covered  with  glare  ice,  all  the 
precautions  which  he  took  against  slipping  consisted 
of  one  small  point  on  the  toe. 

i  I  am  afraid,'  he  writes,  in  a  letter  quoted  by 
4  Free  Lance,'  '  that  I  drive  very  hard  down  hill.  I 
am  in  the  habit  of  driving  cripples ;  my  friends  have 


POWER   OF    PREJUDICE.  123 

a  good  deal  to  say  about  the  corpses  that  I  drive, 
but  I  take  care  of  their  feet,  and  they  manage  to  do 
good  work. 

'  I  make  my  best  time  in  driving  down  hill.  I 
have  no  fear  of  hard  roads  and  no  fear  of  pave- 
ments if  a  horse's  foot  is  kept  in  proper  condition. 
Last  winter  I  rode  my  saddle  mare,  and  of  course 
my  neck  is  more  to  me  than  anything  else.  I 
galloped  out  on  the  ice  where  the  men  were  cutting 
it,  and  I  had  no  fear  of  her  slipping,  although  the 
horse  that  was  marking  the  ice,  and  had  calks  on 
two  inches  thick,  did  slip.' 

Finding  it  impossible  to  induce  the  ordinary 
farriers  to  make  or  put  on  any  shoes  except  those  of 
the  old  pattern.  Mr.  Bowditch  boldly  set  up  his  own 
forge  for  the  benefit  of  his  own  horses.  Sometimes, 
when  one  of  his  neighbours  has  a  very  lame  horse, 
he  brings  the  animal  to  Mr.  Bowditch,  and  when  it  is 
cured,  he  goes  back  to  his  old  farriers,  and  has  it 
lamed  afresh. 

Now  we  can  see  why  the  calks  inflict  an  injury 
on  the  horse. 

In  the  first  place,  they  give  a  wrong  bearing  to 
the  hoof,  by  lifting  it  up  behind,  whereas  Nature 
intended  it  to  come  flatly  on  the  ground.  If  the 
reader  will  again  look  at  the  section  of  the  pastern 
on  p.  40,  he  will  see  that  the  tip  of  the  coffin  bone 


124 


HOESE    AND    MAN. 


resembles  a  wedge.  Note,  when  the  heel  is  elevated 
by  the  calks,  the  coffin  bone  is  pressed  down  into  the 
hoof,  just  as  the  human  toes  are  squeezed  into  the 
tip  of  the  boot  when  high  heels  are  employed. 

Human  toes  suffer  considerably  when  thus  treated, 
but  the  horse  must  suffer  much  more,  because  the 
vascular  laminae  are  also  sensitive,  and  are  crushed 
together   by  the  weight  of  the  animal.     Moreover, 


Fig.  1. 


Fig.  2. 


HOOF   WITH   CALKED 
SHOE. 


ATTITUDE   OF   HOOF,   THE 
SHOE   BEING   REMOVED. 


however  greatly  human  beings  may  suffer  when 
wearing  tight,  high-heeled  boots,  they  can  at  night 
take  off  the  instruments  of  torture,  whereas  the  horse 
enjoys  no  such  respite  from  pain. 

Another  drawback  to  calks  is  the  loss  of  power 
which  they  entail.  When  the  hoof  is  tilted  by  the 
calks,  the  weight  of  the  body  is  thrown  forwards, 
and  the  muscles  and  sinews  are  strained  in  order  to 


FASHIONABLE    BOOTS. 


125 


preserve  the  balance.  This  is  evident  by  reference 
to  fig.  2  in  the  accompanying  illustration,  while  fig.  1 
shows  how  the  eye  is  deluded  by  the  shoe  into  an 
idea  that  the  hoof  is  on  its  proper  level. 

It  is  so  with  ourselves. 

In  the  accompanying  illustration,  fig.  a  represents 
the  human  foot  resting  on  the  ground  in  the  attitude 
designed  by  Nature.     Fig.  b  shows  a  boot  that  was 


human  foot 
(natural  attitude). 


FASHIONABLE  BOOT, 
U84. 


fashionable  m  1884,  and  I  fear,  on  account  of  its 
utter  and  fatuous  disregard  of  every  function  of  the 
foot,  may  retain  its  hold  on  fashion  for  some  years  to 
come.  A  mere  glance  at  the  two  figures  will  show 
the  loss  of  power  consequent  on  wearing  such  a  boot. 
The  wearer  is  nearly  as  helpless  as  a  small-footed 
Chinese  woman.  She — for  I  regret  to  say  that  only 
lovely  woman  can  be  such  a  slave  to  fashion — cannot 


126  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

even  stand  upright,  still  less  walk  upright,  nor  can 
she  even  stand  still. 

The  body  being  thrown  forwards,  the  knee  must 
be  bent  forwards,  the  thigh  backwards,  and  the  spine 
forwards  again,  while  the  free,  natural  walk  which 
constitutes  one  of  the  chief  beauties  of  woman  is 
degraded  into  a  tottering  hobble.  A  walk  of  a  mile 
in  such  boots  is  almost  impossible,  and  if  it  were 
accomplished,  would  fatigue  the  wearer  more  than 
ten  miles  in  boots  or  shoes  which  were  made  in 
accordance  with  the  structure  of  the  foot. 

The  muscles  of  the  legs  have  their  work  com- 
pletely changed,  and  so  they  become  wearied,  while 
the  tendons  are  strained  and  the  joints  swollen. 


Now  for  the  battle  of  the  shoes. 

Begun  no  one  knows  when,  the  date  of  its  final 
settlement  seems  equally  obscure.  Putting  aside  the 
Japanese  straw  shoe,  and  the  American  Indians 
'  parfleche '  shoe,  we  come  to  the  shoe  of  iron, 
attached  to  the  hoof  by  nails.  The  most  curious  point 
in  this  warfare  is,  that  the  more  carefully  the  differ- 
ent inventors  study  the  structure  of  the  hoof,  the 
more  ingeniously  do  they  contrive  to  inflict  damage 
where  they  are  really  desirous  of  doing  good. 

I  again  ask  the  reader  to  disabuse  his  mind  of 


THE   ' G00DEN0UGH  '   SHOE.  127 

the  idea  that  I  bring  any  accusation  of  intentional 
cruelty  against  those  who  are  entrusted  with  the 
care  of  the  horse's  hoof.  On  the  contrary,  I  am 
sure  that  with  very  few  exceptions,  and  those  no 
more  than  the  inevitable  *  black  sheep '  which  infest 
every  business  and  profession,  the  farriers,  grooms, 
and  stablemen  are  really  actuated  with  the  best 
intentions  towards  the  horse,  and  simply  follow  the 
traditions  in  which  they  have  been  brought  up. 

Having  in  mind  the  praiseworthy  object  of 
benefiting  the  horse,  each  inventor  has  recognised 
the  defects  of  existing  shoes,  and  has  tried  to  pro- 
duce a  shoe  which  shall  be  free  from  these  defects. 
The  number  of  such  shoes  is  so  great,  that  I  can  only 
mention  one  or  two  of  the  most  prominent. 

.  Some  years  ago  Mr.  Goodenough,  an  American, 
recognised  the  fact  that  the  broad  fiat  surface  of  the 
shoe  soon  becomes  so  polished  by  friction  that  the 
horse  could  with  difficulty  gain  a  purchase  on  smooth 
ground,  even  if  it  were  dry  and  level,  while  on  slop- 
ing and  wet  ground  the  horse  was  nearly  certain  to 
fall.  So  he  invented  a  shoe  which  was  scooped 
beneath  so  as  to  present  several  sharp  edges  to  the 
ground  instead  of  a  continuous  smooth  surface. 

Here,  then,  was  a  recognition  of  a  defect,  and  an 
attempt  to  remedy  it.  The  shoe  attracted  much 
attention  not  only  in  America  but  in  England,  and  I 


128  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

have  seen  many  references  to  it  as  the  only  shoe 
which  gave  the  horse  a  grip  of  the  ground. 

Certainly,  for  a  short  time  this  was  the  case. 
But  the  inventor  had  forgotten  the  rapidity  with 
which  an  iron  shoe  is  ground  down  by  friction  upon 
a  hard  road,  and  the  result  was,  that  the  projections 
soon  wore  away,  and  the  Goodenough  shoe  became 
just  as  smooth  and  slippery  as  any  of  the  shoes  which 
it  was  intended  to  supersede. 

It  had  its  period  of  popularity,  but  has  long 
ago  passed  into  the  Hmbo  of  shoes  which  have  been 
tried  and  found  wanting. 

Then  came  a  time  when  the  expansive  power  of 
the  hoof  was  brought  prominently  forward,  not  to 
say  exaggerated.  It  was  recognised  that  the  exist- 
ing shoes,  being  unyielding  in  their  structure,  pre- 
vented the  incessant  expansion  and  contraction  on 
which  the  health  of  the  hoof  largely  depends,  and  so 
a  number  of  shoes  were  devised  which  should  permit 
the  expansion  and  contraction.  I  will  briefly  describe 
three  of  them. 

The  first  is  the  Clark  jointed  shoe,  to  which  a 
casual  reference  has  already  been  made. 

This  shoe  is  formed  of  two  parts,  each  occupying 
one  side  of  the  hoof,  and  uniting  at  the  toe,  where 
they  are  joined  by  a  rivet  which  allows  the  two 
halves  to  move  freely.     On  paper  and  as  a  theory, 


THE   JOINTED    SHOE.  129 

the  jointed  shoe  seemed  as  nearly  perfect  as  anything 
could  be,  and  it  earned  considerable  praise.  But  Mr. 
Clark  had  overlooked  three  very  important  defects. 
The  first  was,  that  the  footsteps  of  the  horse  had 
the  same  effect  upon  the  rivet  as  so  many  blows  of  a 
hammer,  fixing  it  so  tightly  that  the  sides  lost  their  play. 

The  second  defect  was,  that  the  iron  of  the  toe 
always  wears  away  faster  than  at  any  other  portion 
of  the  shoe.  Now,  as  the  rivet  was  in  the  toe,  the 
natural  result  was,  that  it  soon  became  so  much 
worn,  that  it  fell  out  altogether,  leaving  the  two 
loose  ends  as  levers  by  which  the  nails  were  loosened 
at  every  step. 

The  third  defect  lay  in  imperfect  knowledge  of 
the  structure  of  the  hoof.  The  reader  may  re- 
member that  the  lateral  expansive  property  rests  in 
the  quarters,  and  that  the  toe  is  practically  non- 
expansile.  Therefore,  as  the  shoe  was  nailed  equally 
round  the  hoof,  the  quarters  could  not  expand  when 
fastened  to  the  toe,  and  so  there  might  just  as  well 
have  been  no  joint  at  all. 

In  writing  of  this  shoe,  Lieut.  Douglas,  in  the 
gently  sarcastic  tone  which  pervades  his  book,  re- 
marks that  if  the  nails  were  let  into  half-inch  slots, 
so  as  to  have  a  quarter  of  an  inch  play  in  either 
direction,  '  the  jointed  shoe  would  have  some  chance ; 
as  it  is,  there  is  none  for  it  whatever.' 

K 


130  HORSE    AXD    MAX. 

Another  inventor  realised  the  latter  defect,  and 
so  the  celebrated  screw-shoe  was  devised. 

This  was  a  most  complicated  and  expensive  piece 
of  mechanism,  consisting  of  four  distinct  parts.  First 
came  the  toe-piece.  This  was  something  like  the 
capital  letter  T,  with  a  curved  cross-piece.  The  stem 
passed  completely  under  the  middle  of  the  hoof,  and 
had  at  the  end  a  nut  whioJi  worked  the  screw  after 
which  the  shoe  was  named. 

To  the  arms  of  the  toe-piece  the  side-pieces  were 
connected  by  rivets  similar  to  those  of  the  jointed 
shoe,  their  other  ends  or  '  heels '  coming  against  the 
screw.  So,  by  turning  the  nut,  the  sides  could  be 
pushed  farther  apart,  or  brought  nearer  together,  so 
as  to  suit  either  a  round  or  a  long  hoof. 

This  would  have  been  a  delightful  arrangement 
if,  like  its  predecessor,  the  screw- shoe  could  have 
remained  on  paper.  When  reduced  to  practice,  how- 
ever, its  failure  was  even  more  disastrous. 

In  the  first  place,  there  were  two  rivets  instead 
of  one,  so  that  it  was  doubly  weak.  In  the  next, 
the  screws,  which  were  really  superfluous  appendages, 
caused  the  stem  of  the  toe-piece  to  work  up  and 
down  at  each  step,  until  they  fell  out  and  were  lost. 
But  the  third  defect  was  an  absolutely  ludicrous  one. 
The  reader  will  remember  that  the  expansion  and 
contraction  of  the  hoof  is  produced  by  the  pressure 


THE   SCREW-SHOE.  131 

of  the  frog  upon  the  ground.  Now,  the  stem  of  the 
toe-piece  passes  under  the  frog,  and  consequently 
prevents  it  from  touching  the  ground. 

A  fair  idea  of  the  appearance  of  the  screw-shoe 
may  be  obtained  by  comparing  it  to  the  ecclesiastic 
capital  letter  i-L«,  the  central  perpendicular  line 
representing  the  stem  of  the  toe-piece. 

The  special  object  of  the  screw- shoe  was,  however, 
to  be  a  corrective  of  contraction  of  the  hoof,  one  of 
the  ailments  to  which  that  much-enduring  organ  is 
subject.  What  is  the  practical  working  of  the  screiv 
is  well  pointed  out  by  Lieut.  Douglas  : — 

1  The  foot  was  kept  in  water  to  soften  the  horn  (!), 
and  every  day  the  screw  was  slightly  turned  by  a  key, 
the  hoof  apparently  opening  wider  at  the  heels  by 
the  interior  lengthening  of  the  screw.  But  it  was 
soon  found  that  no  proper  expansion  took  place,  it 
being  either  the  nails  that  gave  or  the  crust  that 
split. 

'  So  ended  the  theory  of  the  screw-shoes,  which 
could  never  have  been  looked  into  properly,  as  they 
would  not  have  stood  the  test  of  common-sense  in- 
vestigation an  hour. 

'  We  have  only  to  imagine  that  if  the  nails  did 
not  give,  nor  the  crust  split  while  the  shoe  was  forced 
wider  apart,  this  result  must  follow — viz.  the  wall  of 
the  foot  would  be  torn  away  at  the  heels  from  the 

k2 


132  HOUSE    AND    MAN. 

sole  and  the  laminge,  a  much  more  serious  conse- 
quence than  contraction  could  ever  have  produced.' 

The  reader  will  not  fail  to  notice  that  whereas  the 
hoof  was  intended  by  Nature  to  be  nearly  as  hard  as 
iron,  man,  in  his  attempts  to  improve  upon  Nature, 
does  all  in  his  power  to  soften  it. 

The  third  device  for  permitting  the  expansion  of 
the  hoof  is  the  unilateral  system,  which  has  already 
been  briefly  mentioned.  Provided  that  the  frog  be 
allowed  to  rest  on  the  ground,  and  the  shoe  be  not 
carried  round  the  toe,  as  it  is  in  some  instances,  this 
plan  is  fairly  successful  with  the  unshod  side  of  the 
hoof.  But  on  the  other  side,  as  the  expansile  quarter 
is  connected  with  the  non-expansile  toe  by  a  bar  of 
rigid  iron,  it  is  rendered  immovable,  and  the  value 
of  the  frog  is  half  lost. 

Still,  though  the  unilateral  system  is  certainly 
better  than  the  employment  of  a  shoe  which  runs  all 
round  the  hoof,  it  cannot  but  have  an  injurious 
effect  on  the  hoof.  That  one  side  of  the  hoof  should 
be  in  its  natural  elastic  condition,  and  the  other 
should  be  shod  with  unyielding  iron,  is  necessarily 
as  annoying  to  a  horse  as  it  would  be  to  a  human 
being. 

If  the  reader  has  followed  my  train  of  argument 
he  will  see  that  if  a  shoe  of  any  kind  is  to  be  nailed 
upon  the  hoof,  it  ought  to  be  confined  to  the  front 


MR.  gerry's  letter.  133 

portion,  which  we  call  the  toe,  there  being  no  ex- 
pansive properties  to  be  neutralised  by  the  shoe. 

One  great  gain  will  be  evident,  namely,  the  lessen- 
ing of  the  weight  which  the  horse  has  to  lift  at  each 
step.  Also,  only  half  the  usual  number  of  nails  will 
be  required,  so  that  the  horn  of  the  wall  is  not  so 
much  weakened  by  nail  holes.  There  is  also  no 
interference  with  the  frog,  which  can  assume  its 
normal  size  and  form,  so  as  to  take  the  weight  of  the 
body  before  the  toe  comes  into  use.  I  have  already 
mentioned  that  the  importance  of  the  frog  is  rapidly 
becoming  known  in  America.  Mr.  J.  W.  Gerry,  in 
a  letter  to  the  '  Boston  Globe,'  puts  the  point  very 
quaintly  : — 

'  Customers  say  "  My  horse  needs  shoeing ;  his 
frog  comes  to  the  ground,  and  he  begins  to  go  lame." 
What  an  absurd  idea,  when  Nature  intended  him  to 
travel  on  the  frog  !  If  not,  why  was  not  the  frog  put 
upon  the  top  of  the  hoof?  Nine- tenths  of  all  driving 
horses  have  corns  because  of  the  iron  thick-heeled 
shoes  to  keep  the  frog  from  the  ground.' 

One  thing  yet  is  wanting. 

The  tip  is  fastened  upon  the  hoof,  and  is  therefore 
liable  to  be  wrenched  off  if  the  horse  should  strike 
its  toe  against  a  hard  substance.  Even  if  it  be  only 
loosened,  it  becomes  dangerous,  as  the  nails  are  apt 
to  be  partly   drawn   and  twisted    out  of  the  right 


134  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

direction.  As  the  horse  goes  on  trotting  or  even 
walking,  the  nails  become  more  and  more  bent,  and 
their  points  are  liable  to  penetrate  the  linea  alba,  an 
accident  which  often  results  in  lockjaw.  In  Mayhew's 
well-known  work  on  '  Horse  Management,'  p.  83, 
there  is  a  very  good  figure  of  the  mischief  which 
may  be  wrought  by  a  loosened  shoe. 

Even  granting  that  no  such  accident  happen,  and 
that  the  shoe  retains  its  position,  the  horn  of  the  toe 
is  kept  off  the  ground,  and  so  cannot  be  subject  to 
the  friction  which  is  necessary  for  its  benefit.  It 
therefore  continues  to  grow  unchecked,  while  that 
of  the  quarters  is  incessantly  worn  away  and  renewed 
as  it  ouovht  to  be. 

Now,  granting  for  the  sake  of  argument  that  the 
horse  must  have  a  shoe,  it  is  evident  that  the  best  shoe 
is  that  which  interferes  least  with  the  natural  growth 
and  action  of  the  hoof.  Such  a  shoe  is  the  '  Charlier/ 
so  named  after  its  inventor.  It  is  extremely  narrow, 
and  very  light ;  but  its  essential  excellence  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  is  not  nailed  upon  the  hoof,  but  is  counter- 
sunk into  the  horn,  so  as  to  be  flush  with  the  natural 
edge. 

The  Charlier  shoe  is  made  of  various  sizes.  Most 
of  them  are  *  full '  or  '  three-quarter '  shoes,  as  seen 
in  the  accompanying  illustration.  These,  however, 
are  not  to  be  recommended,  as  they  are  apt  to  work 


THE    CIIARLIER    SHOE. 


135 


loose  towards  the  heels,  and  interfere  with  the  proper 
development  of  the  quarters.  As  the  reader  will 
see,  the  heel  and  frog  are  left  alone,  so  that  the  latter 
can  grow  to  its  normal  size,  nearly  filling  the  cavity 

of  the  hoof. 

A  '  quarter '  shoe  is  all  that  is  required.  There 
is  a  specimen  now  before  me,  which  was  taken  from 
a  large  hoof  where  it  was  doing  good  work.  When 
first  put  on,  or  rather  put  in,  it 
weighed  exactly  three  ounces, 
and  has  lost  a  quarter  of  an 
ounce  by  wear.  It  is  three-six- 
teenths of  an  inch  in  thickness 
and  seven- sixteenths  in  width.  If 
it  were  straightened  it  would 
measure  rather  more  than  seven 
inches  in  length.  Now,  this  is 
altogether  too  large  a  shoe,  but 
I  describe  it  as  being  an  actual  specimen  which  had 
been  in  use. 

Seven  inches,  for  example,  is  much  too  long,  four 
inches  being  amply  sufficient  for  practical  purposes. 
It  is  also  too  thick,  one-eighth  of  an  inch  being  quite 
enough  ;  and  it  is  needlessly  wide,  the  few  nails  which 
are  required  being  so  small  that  there  is  plenty  of 
room  for  them  if  the  width  were  diminished  by  at 
least  one-fourth. 


CHARLIER   SHOE. 


136  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

A  little  art  is  required  in  attaching  this  shoe. 
Round  the  edge  of  the  hoof  a  groove  is  cut,  and  into 
the  groove  the  shoe  is  sunk.  The  groove  should  be 
fully  as  deep  as  the  thickness  of  the  shoe,  and  even 
should  it  be  a  little  deeper  no  harm  will  be  done. 
There  is  no  difficulty  in  cutting  the  groove,  as  in  all 
places  where  the  Charlier  shoe  is  sold  a  special  knife 
is  supplied.  v  This  knife  is  a  variation  of  the  ordinary 
draw-knife,  and  is  furnished  with  a  moveable  guide 
by  which  the  dimensions  of  the  groove  are  regulated. 
The  guide  can  be  set  to  any  point,  and  fastened  by  a 
screw,  so  that  even  the  most  careless  operator  can 
hardly  make  a  mistake. 

As  the  shoe  is  flush  with  the  horn,  there  is  no 
leverage,  and  in  consequence  it  only  requires  a  few 
nails,  and  those  of  small  size.  The  chief  virtue  of 
the  Charlier  shoe,  however,  consists  in  the  fact  that, 
as  the  horse  steps,  the  horn  and  iron  are  worn  away 
simultaneously,  so  that  the  shoe  can  be  worn  down 
until  it  is  hardly  thicker  than  a  visiting  card. 

It  is  not  very  easy  to  induce  farriers  to  fix  the 
Charlier  shoe  to  the  hoof.  All  artisans  have  a 
tendency  to  move  in  ruts,  and  are  almost  helpless 
when  taken  out  of  them,  and  the  farrier  is  perhaps 
more  wedded  to  his  accustomed  rut  than  any  other 
workman. 

Should   the    full,    or   three-quarter,  Charlier   be 


SHOKTENING   THE   SHOE.  137 

employed,  it  is  always  easy  to  cut  away  a  piece  from 
the  heels  at  each  time  of  renewal,  so  that  in  three 
months  or  so  nothing  will  be  used  except  the  four- 
inch  tip.  No  matter  how  much  a  hoof  may  have 
been  mangled  by  ignorant  men,  it  will  at  the  end 
of  that  time  have  regained  nearly  all  its  original 
form. 

I  am  aware  that  in  one  of  our  cavalry  regiments 
the  Charlier  shoe  was  tried  and  failed,  on  account  of 
the  shoes  breaking.  But  the  shoes  were  far  too 
large,  coming  back  as  far  as  the  heels,  and  of  course 
being  liable  to  twisting  and  breaking.  Had  they 
been  four-inch  tips,  a  very  different  result  would 
have  been  obtained.  Moreover,  it  is  clear  that  the 
farriers  were  not  desirous  to  have  a  shoe  which  they 
did  not  understand. 

We  are  now  brought  face  to  face  with  another 
development  of  the  subject.  It  has  been  shown  that 
the  horse's  hoof,  when  untouched  by  man,  is  one  of 
the  most  perfect  and  elaborate  pieces  of  animal 
mechanism  in  the  world.  Common  sense  ought  to 
tell  us  that  when  man  meddles  with  Nature  he  always 
muddles,  and  that  with  the  best  intentions  in  the 
world  he  deliberately  sets  himself  to  undo  Nature's 
work. 

In  nothing  does  man  seem  to  revel  in  his  opposi- 


138  -  HOUSE   AND    MAN. 

tion  to  Nature  so  much  as  in  his  dealing  with  the 
horse's  hoof.  He  cannot  let  it  alone,  but  cuts,  and 
carves,  and  scoops,  and  rasps,  and  greases,  and 
blacks,  and  rends  its  fibres  as  if  he  were  not  guided 
by  reason,  but  by  a  series  of  'happy  thoughts'  which 
happened  to  occur  to  him,  and  were  immediately 
acted  upon  without  the  least  reflection. 

For  example,  the  Creator  has  taken  the  greatest 
care  to  make  the  whole  Hoof  as  light  as  possible. 
'  Happy  thought! '  says  man.  'Let  us  hang  a  pound 
or  so  on  each  hoof  and  make  the  horse  waste  his 
strength  in  lifting  it.' 

He  has  made  the  Wall  exceedingly  strong.  'Happy 
thought !  Let  us  weaken  it  by  cutting  it  away,  by 
scooping  grooves  in  it,  and  driving  nails  into  it  so  as 
to  tear  the  fibres  asunder.' 

He  has  made  this  wall  nearly  as  hard  as  iron. 
'  Happy  thought !  Let  us  soften  it  by  "  stopping " 
and  similar  devices.' 

The  Creator  has  made  the  edge  of  the  wall  quite 
sharp,  so  as  to  enable  it  to  hitch  upon  the  slightest 
unevenness,  and  to  aid  it  in  ascending  a  hill. 
Another  happy  thought !  '  Let  us  cut  away  the 
sharp  edge,  and  substitute  a  flat,  smooth  surface  of 
iron  which  can  take  no  hold  of  slippery  ground.' 

There  is  now  before  me  a  shoe  taken  from  the 
foot  of  a  dray-horse.     The  flat  iron  surface  is  exactly 


HAPPY    THOUGHTS.  139 

two  inches  in  width,  so  that  if  man  had  deliberately 
set  himself  to  work  to  invent  a  plan  of  making  the 
horse's  footing  as  insecure  as  possible,  he  could  not 
have  been  more  successful. 

He  has  furnished  the  hoof  with  an  elastic  pad  called 
the  '  Frog,'  so  as  to  prevent  any  jar  when  the  horse 
steps.  'Happy  thought !  Let  us  cut  away  the  pad  and 
make  the  horse's  weight  come  upon  a  ring  of  iron.' 

This  happy  thought  has  another  effect.  The 
Creator  has  constructed  the  hoof  so  that  the  ela- 
borate and  delicate  mechanism  of  its  interior  can 
only  be  kept  in  working  order  by  the  pressure  of  the 
pad,  or  '  frog.'  So  by  cutting  away  the  frog  in  one 
of  his  happy  thoughts,  man  has  contrived  to  stop 
all  this  machinery  (with  the  inevitable  result  to 
machinery  which  is  not  allowed  to  work),  and  has 
also  managed  to  create  exactly  the  jar  which  the 
frog  would  have  prevented. 

A  third  object  has  been  attained  by  cutting  away 
the  frog.  As  has  already  been  shown,  the  frog 
prevents  the  horse  from  falling  on  smooth  and  slip- 
pery surfaces,  and  even  enables  it  to  gallop  over  ice. 
So,  by  removing  the  frog,  the  chances  of  a  horse's 
falling  are  greatly  multiplied. 

Again,  the  Sole  of  the  hoof  has  been  formed  arch- 
wise, of  successive  layers  of  exceedingly  hard  horn, 
so  as  to  perform  a  double  office.     In  the  first  place 


140  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

it  bids  defiance  to  hard  and  sharp-edged  objects,  such 
as  rocks  or  broken  flints  ;  and  in  the  next  place,  it 
transmits  the  pressure  from  the  frog  to  the  wall,  so 
as  to  produce  the  expansion  at  each  step  on  which 
the  health  of  the  hoof  depends. 

So  the  sole  inspires  man  with  another  happy 
thought.  '  Let  us  pare  it  so  thin  that  it  not  only 
cannot  resist  the  pressure  of  the  horse's  weight  upon 
a  stone,  but  that  it  yields  to  the  pressure  of  the 
human  thumb.  As  for  its  duty  of  transmitting 
pressure  from  the  frog  to  the  wall,  that  is  of  no 
consequence,  as  the  frog  has  already  been  cut  away, 
so  that  there  is  no  pressure  to  be  transmitted.' 

Our  happy  thoughts  are  not  yet  exhausted.  The 
hoof  has  been  made  Porous,  so  as  to  permit  tran- 
spiration to  take  place.  ;  Happy  thought !  Let  us 
choke  up  all  the  pores  with  oil  to  stop  the  transpi- 
ration.' 

It  has  been  covered  with  a  natural  Varnish  so 
constructed  that  while  it  does  not  hinder  transpira- 
tion, it  defends  the  hoof  from  wet.  '  Happy  thought ! 
Let  us  rasp  or  scrape  off  the  varnish.  It  is  natural, 
and  therefore  must  be  wrono;.' 

The  coronary  ring,  from  which  the  fibres  of  the 
wall  are  secreted,  is  guarded  by  a  Penthouse  of  Hair 
which  causes  wet  to  shoot  off  it  as  it  does  from  the 
eaves  of  a  house.    '  Happy  thought !  Let  us  snip  away 


FOUR    SETS    OF   LEGS.  141 

the  hair,  and  let  the  water  make  its  way  into  the 
coronary  ring.' 

So,  after  working  his  sweet  will  upon  the  hoof, 
man  wonders  at  its  weakness,  and  lays  down  the 
stupid  axiom  that  ;  one  horse  can  wear  out  four  sets 
of  legs,'  which  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  the  Creator 
did  not  know  how  to  make  a  horse. 


142  HOESE   AND   MAN. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  shoe  useful  in  proportion  to  its  lightness — Therefore,  the  best  shoe 
seems  to  be  none  at  all — Capability  of  the  human  foot — Value  of  an 
army  dependent  on  its  marching  power — Lord  Wolseley 's  axiom — Edin- 
burgh lasses — Moccasin  versus  boot — MansBeld  Parkyns  in  Abyssinia 
— Ladies  and  children  at  the  sea-side — Charles  Waterton  in  Guiana, — 
Col.  Lodge's  account  of  the  North  American  Indian's  pony — A  race 
between  the  Indian's  pony  and  th.e  high-bred  horse — Exrnoor  and 
Dartmoor  ponies — Description  of  these  '  moors ' — How  to  make  a 
horse's  hoof  tender — The  hoof  an  organ  of  all-work — Saddle  and 
draught — Col.  Burnaby's  opinion. 

Now  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  a  problem 
which  cannot  well  be  avoided.  We  have  seen  that 
the  value  of  the  shoe  is  in  inverse  ratio  to  its  weight, 
its  dimensions,  and  its  interference  with  the  natural 
functions  of  the  hoof. 

The  thick,  heavy  shoe,  with  calkins,  clips,  and  toe- 
piece,  is  the  worst,  while  the  light  Charlier  tip,  which 
is  countersunk  into  the  horn  of  the  toe,  is  the  best. 
The  logical  conclusion  is,  that  as  the  horse  is  benefited 
in  proportion  as  the  shoe  is  diminished,  it  might, 
unless  under  very  exceptional  circumstances,  be  more 
benefited  by  having  no  shoe  at  all. 

No  one  who  has  the  least  acquaintance  with  the 


THE    HUMAN   FOOT.  143 

horse's  hoof  can  deny  that  every  one  of  the  numerous 
ills  which  beset  a  horse's  hoof  is  caused  by  the  iron 
shoe  and  its  adjuncts— namely,  the  knife,  the  rasp,  the 
nail,  the  '  oils,'  and  the  stopping.  Let  us  impartially 
compare  the  advantages  and  disadvantages,  and  see 
on  which  side  the  balance  inclines. 

We  may  take  ourselves  as  examples. 

We,  who  have  been  accustomed  through  all  our 
lives  to  have  our  feet  defended  by  boots  and  shoes, 
would  be  lamed  and  bleeding  in  a  few  minutes  if  our 
artificial  protections  were  removed,  and  we  were 
obliged  to  run  or  even  to  walk  for  half  a  mile  on  hard 
ground.  Yet  the  human  foot  was  not  intended  by  the 
Creator  as  an  instrument  for  maintaining  bootmakers, 
and  is  perfectly  capable  of  bearing  its  owner  over 
ground  which  would  cut  the  best  made  boots  to 
pieces. 

Military  life,  in  which  the  soldier  has  to  walk 
for  considerable  distances  daily  over  all  kinds  of 
ground,  affords  a  good  test  of  the  powers  of  the  human 
foot.  Next  to  the  commissariat,  which  feeds  the  men, 
scarcely  any  department  causes  such  anxiety  as  that 
which  deals  with  the  feet  on  which  the  army  is  con- 
veyed from  place  to  place.  '  The  army  that  can 
march  best  is  the  best  army,'  writes  Lord  Wolseley ; 
'  and  the  regiment  that  can  march  best  in  an  army, 
is  the  best  in  that  army.' — ('  Soldier's  Pocket  Book,' 


144  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

p.  257.)  The  care  of  the  soldier's  foot  is  repeatedly 
urged  in  that  valuable  work. 

Yet,  with  all  the  care  that  can  be  taken,  men  who 
are  obliged  to  wear  boots  and  shoes  are  no  match  in 
marching  for  those  who  have  always  been  accustomed 
to  go  barefooted.  Most  of  the  disasters  that  have 
befallen  our  troops  when  dealing  with  uncivilised 
races,  such  as  the  Maori,  the  Zulu,  and  the  Arab, 
have  been  due  to  ignorance  of  the  tremendous  march- 
ing  powers  of  the  barefooted  savage. 

I  never  fairly  appreciated  the  capabilities  of  the 
human  foot  until  February  1881,  when  I  was  staying 
in  Edinburgh.  It  was  a  very  severe  winter,  having 
been  made  memorable  by  the  terrible  snowstorm  of 
January  18. 

The  Cowgate  (locally  pronounced  Coog't)  is  now 
mostly  inhabited  by  the  poorer  classes,  the  children  of 
both  sexes  and  the  younger  women  habitually  going 
without  shoes.  I  was  obliged  repeatedly  to  cross 
this  street,  which  was  then  in  extremely  bad  condi- 
tion. Mud  had  been  deep,  and  the  cartwheels  and 
horses'  hoofs  had  cut  it  up  into  a  very  rough  state. 
Then  a  severe  frost  had  come  on,  and  the  result  was 
that  the  frozen  ridges  were  so  hard  and  sharp  that 
they  hurt  my  feet  through  the  thick  soles  of  my 
boots. 

Yet  these  children  and  young  women  ran  and 


ABYSSINIAN    HUNTERS.  145 

skipped  over  the  road  as  freely  as  if  it  had  been  soft 
turf,  and  suffered  no  inconvenience  from  the  sharp 
surfaces.  Still  more  curious  was  the  way  in  which 
they  stood  and  talked  unconcernedly,  though  their 
naked  feet  rested  on  ice  and  snow,  and  their  legs  were 
bare  half  way  to  the  knee.  I  asked  several  of  them 
whether  they  did  not  suffer  from  the  cold,  but  they 
all  agreed  in  saying  that  they  did  not  feel  the  cold 
inconvenient,  except  when  they  wore  boots. 

It  does  not  need  that  boots  or  shoes  should  never 
have  been  worn,  in  order  to  produce  this  insensibility 
of  foot.  Hunters  in  North  America  always  abandon 
the  boot  for  the  moccasin,  which  is  only  a  single 
thickness  of  hide  lashed  over  the  foot.  At  first,  the 
civilised  hunter  finds  walking  very  painful,  but  in  a 
short  time  his  feet  become  accustomed  to  their  work, 
and  the  man  almost  looks  forward  with  horror  to  the 
time  when  he  must  return  to  civilisation  and  boots. 

When  Air.  Mansfield  Parkyns  was  on  his  hunting 
tour  in  Abyssinia  he  very  wisely  conformed  to  the 
dress  of  the  natives,  and  always  went  barefooted. 
He  was  soon  able,  as  they  were,  to  follow  the  chase 
on  foot,  over  sand,  or  rocks,  or  through  bush.  After 
the  day's  hunting  was  over,  he,  like  the  natives, 
had  his  feet  overhauled,  in  order  to  find  whether  any 
thorns  or  splinters  might  be  sticking  in  them. 

On  one  occasion  he  narrates  how  he  incautiously 

L 


L46  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

trod  on  an  upright  and  broken  stump,  and  ran  a 
splinter  so  deeply  into  the  sole  of  his  foot  that 
the  point  could  just  be  seen  as  a  dark  spot  under 
the  skin  of  the  instep.  He  could  not  afford  to  stop, 
so  he  continued  the  chase,  killed  his  quarry,  and 
carried  it  home,  a  distance  of  some  two  miles.  He 
then  cut  down  upon  the  broken  splinter,  so  as  to  ex- 
pose the  end,  and  pulled  it  out  with  his  bullet-mould. 
In  three  or  four  days  his  feet  were  all  right  again. 

The  late  Charles  Waterton,  in  his  '  Wanderings 
in  South  America,'  invariably  went  barefooted,  just  as 
the  natives  did. 

The  rapidity  with  which  Nature  will  enable  the 
tender  feet  of  civilised  man  to  be  as  tough  as  those 
of  the  savage  is  really  wonderful.  A  year  or  two  ago 
there  was  a  fashion  for  families  to  go  to  the  seaside, 
and  walk  about  all  day  without  shoes.  At  first  the 
experience  was  rather  painful,  even  upon  tolerably 
smooth  ground  But,  before  the  time  of  the  visit 
had  nearly  expired,  ladies  and  children  could  be 
seen  tramping  on  the  shingle,  or  clambering  over 
sharp-edged  rocks,  with  perfect  ease,  though  at  first 
each  step  cost  a  separate  pang. 

Quite  as  remarkable  is  the  completeness  with 
which  the  toughness  of  the  foot  disappears  when 
it  is  not  required.  Mr.  Waterton  afforded  a  curious 
instance  of  this    adaptability.       He   proposed    to    a 


THE  SOLE  OP  THE  FOOT.  147 

friend  to  walk  to  Eome  from  Baccano,  and,  in  order 
to  be  more  comfortable,  lie  determined  to  walk  bare- 
footed. 

'  Having,'  lie  writes,  '  been  accustomed  to  go 
without  shoes  month  after  month  in  the  rugged 
forests  of  Guiana,  I  took  it  for  granted  that  I  could 
do  the  same  on  the  pavement  of  his  Holiness  Pope 
Gregory  the  Sixteenth,  never  once  reflecting  that 
some  fifteen  years  had  elapsed  from  the  time  that 
I  could  go  barefooted  with  comfort  and  impunity. 
During  the  interval,  however,  the  sequel  will  show 
that  the  soles  of  my  feet  had  undergone  considerable 
alteration.' 

The  result  to  which  he  alludes  was  that  his  feet 
were  terribly  cut  and  bleeding  before  he  had  tra- 
versed four  miles,  and  that  he  was  confined  to  the 
sofa  for  two  months.  Of  course  the  pavement  was 
comparatively  smooth,  and  not  nearly  so  likely  to 
injure  the  foot  as  the  roadless  ways  which  he  tra- 
versed in  Guiana,  but  the  sole  of  the  foot,  for  want 
of  use,  had  lost  its  former  toughness. 

I  use  this  last  word  intentionally.  The  popular 
idea,  which  until  within  a  few  years  I  myself  shared, 
is  that  when  the  boot,  or  shoe,  or  sandal  is  not  worn, 
the  sole  of  the  foot  becomes  hard.  Now,  so  far  from 
being  hard,  it  is  quite  soft.  It  is  true  that  the  skin 
becomes  extremely  thick,  but  at   the  same  time  it 


148  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

loses  none  of  its  flexibility,  and,  like  the  frog  of  the 
horse,  or  the  pad  of  a  dog  or  cat's  paw,  has  very 
much  the  consistency  of  indiarubber,  so  that  sharp 
stones,  thorns,  &c,  have  but  very  little  effect  on  it. 

We  will  now  return  to  the  horse,  and  see  what 
can  be  done  by  a  horse  which  has  never  known 
a  shoe.  Here  is  an  account  by  Lieut.-Col.  E.  J. 
Dodge,  U.S.A.,  of  the  horse  as  used  by  the  red  men. 
These  horses  are  the  descendants  of  the  animals  which 
were  brought  over  by  the  Spaniards  and  afterwards 
abandoned.  Being  left  to  themselves,  they  multiplied 
exceedingly,  and  reverted  to  the  wild  state,  forming 
themselves  into  herds,  whence  they  are  captured 
when  wanted  by  means  of  the  lasso  : — 

'  My  subject  would  not  be  complete  without  some 
mention  of  the  Pony,  the  plain  Indian's  inseparable 
companion  and  most  serviceable  slave. 

'  Scarcely  fourteen  hands  in  height,  he  is  rather 
light  than  heavy  in  build,  with  good  legs,  straight 
shoulders,  short,  strong  back,  and  full  barrel.  He 
has  no  appearance  of  "  blood  "  except  sharp,  nervous 
ears  and  bright  intelligent  eyes ;  but  the  amount 
of  work  he  can  do,  the  distance  he  can  pass  in  a 
specified  time,  provided  that  it  be  long  enough,  put 
him  in  Indian  hands  fairly  on  a  level  with  the 
Arabian. 


the  Indian's  hoese.  149 

*  Though  of  indispensable  value  to  the  Indian, 
he  receives  not  a  particle  of  attention.  He  is  never 
stabled,  nor  washed,  nor  rubbed,  nor  curried,  nor 
blanketed,  nor  shod,  nor  fed,  nor  doctored. 

*  When  travelling  over  rough  and  rocky  ground, 
his  rider  may  take  the  trouble  to  tie  up  a  tender 
foot  in  a  piece  of  buffalo  robe. 

c  After  endurance,  the  best  quality  of  the  pony 
is  sureness  of  foot.  He  will  climb  a  steep  rocky  hill 
with  the  activity  and  assurance  of  the  mule.  He 
will  plunge  clown  an  almost  precipitous  declivity 
with  the  indifference  of  the  buffalo. 

'  For  going  over  swamps  and  marshy  places  he 
is  only  excelled  by  the  elk,  and  he  will  go  at  speed 
through  sandhills,  or  ground  perforated  with  gopher 
holes,  where  an  American  horse  would  labour  to 
get  along  at  a  walk,  and  fall  in  the  first  fifty  yards 
of  a  gallop. 

1  The  amount  of  work  got  out  of  him  by  the 
Indian  is  astonishing.  No  mercy  is  shown.  Tell  an 
Indian  to  find  out  something  miles  away,  and  he  will 
probably  go  and  return  at  full  speed,  though  the 
distance  made  be  twenty  miles.  And  this  work  is 
done  under  apparently  most  unfavourable  circum- 
stances :  a  terrible  bit,  an  ill-fitting  saddle,  and  a 
rider  as  cruel  and  remorseless  as  Fate  itself.' — ('  Hunt- 
ing Grounds  of  the  Great  West.') 


150  HOESE   AND    MAN. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  imagine  a  stronger  testi- 
mony to  the  endurance  and  sure-footedness  of  the  un- 
shod horse.  That  speed  should  be  a  characteristic 
of  such  an  animal  could  not  reasonably  be  expected. 
At  all  events,  no  one  would  suppose  that  the  pony 
so  nurtured  could  equal  in  that  respect  the  pedigree 
horses  of  civilised  man,  who  not  only  selects  the 
parents  from  families  renowned  for  speed  and  power, 
but  carefully  trains  the  offspring  for  racing. 

Yet,  that  an  animal  so  neglected  according  to  our 
ideas  as  the  Indian  pony  can  not  only  equal  but 
surpass  the  trained  horse  of  the  white  man,  is  shown 
by  a  most  amusing  account  of  a  race  between  a  pony 
and  blood  horses,  written  by  Lieut.-Col.  E.  J.  Dodge 
in  another  part  of  his  valuable  work  : — 

'  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  hit  on  a  fair  distance 
between  the  Indian  and  American  horse.  The  start 
being  always  from  a  halt,  the  small,  quick  pony  is  almost 
sure  to  win  at  from  one  to  three  hundred  yards,  while 
the  long  stride  of  the  American  horse  is  equally  sure 
of  carrying  him  in  winner  at  from  six  hundred  yards 
to  two  miles.  A  mile  or  two  is  then  doubtful,  after 
which  it  is  safe  to  back  the  endurance  of  the  pony. 

'  A  band  of  Comanches  under  Mu-la  que- top  once 
camped  near  Fort  Chadbourne,  in  Texas,  and  were  fre- 
quent visitors  and  great  nuisances  as  beggars  at  that 
post.     Some  of  the  officers  were  decidedly  "  horsey," 


A   NATIVE    JOCKEY.  151 

several  owning  blood  horses,  the  relative  speed  of  each 
being  known  by  separate  trials  almost  to  a  foot.  Mu- 
la-que-top  was  bantered  for  a  race,  and  after  several 
days  of  manoeuvring,  a  race  was  made  against  the  third 
best  horse  of  the  garrison,  distance  four  hundred 
yards. 

'  The  Indians  betted  robes  and  "  plunder "  of 
various  kinds,  to  the  value  of  sixty  or  seventy  dollars, 
against  money,  flour,  sugar,  &c,  to  a  like  amount. 
The  Indians  "  showed  "  a  miserable  sheep  of  a  pony, 
with  legs  like  churns,  a  three-inch  coat  of  rough  hair 
stuck  out  all  over  the  body,  and  a  general  expression 
of  neglect,  helplessness,  and  patient  suffering  which 
struck  pity  into  the  hearts  of  all  beholders. 

'  The  rider  was  a  stalwart  Indian  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy  pounds,  looking  big  and  strong  enough 
to  carry  the  poor  beast  on  his  shoulders.  He  was 
armed  with  a  huge  club,  with  which,  after  the  word 
was  given,  he  belaboured  the  miserable  animal  from 
start  to  finish.  To  the  astonishment  of  all  the  whites, 
the  Indian  won  by  a  neck. 

'Another  race  was  proposed  by  the  officers,  and 
after  much  "  dickering "  accepted  by  the  Indians 
against  the  next  best  horse  of  the  garrison.  The  bets 
were  doubled,  and  in  less  than  an  hour  the  second 
race  was  won  by  the  same  pony,  with  the  same  appa- 
rent exertion  and  with  exactly  the  same  result. 


152  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

'  The  officers,  thorough ly  disgusted,  proposed  a 
third  race,  and  brought  to  the  ground  a  magnificent 
Kentucky  mare  of  the  true  Lexington  blood,  and 
known  to  beat  the  best  of  the  others  at  least  forty 
yards  in  four  hundred.  The  Indians  accepted  the 
race,  and  not  only  doubled  the  bets  as  before,  but 
piled  up  everything  that  they  could  raise,  seemingly 
almost  crazed  with  the  excitement  of  their  previous 
success. 

'  The  riders  mounted,  the  word  was  given.  Throw- 
ing away  his  club,  the  Indian  rider  gave  a  whoop,  at 
which  the  sheep-like  pony  pricked  up  his  ears  and 
went  away  like  the  wind,  almost  two  feet  to  the 
mare's  one.  The  last  fifty  yards  of  the  course  were 
run  by  the  pony  with  the  rider  sitting  face  to  the  tail, 
making;  hideous  grimaces,  and  beckoning  to  the  rider 
of  the  mare  to  come  on.' 

The  reader  will  probably  have  noticed  the  enor- 
mous weight  of  the  man  who  acted  as  jockey,  as  well 
as  the  fact  that  when  the  rider  really  wanted  the 
horse  to  do  its  best  he  abandoned  the  stick  and  only 
urged  the  animal  with  his  voice. 

The  hardness  and  sure-footedness  of  the  unshod 
horse  is  not  confined  to  the  American  animal,  and 
neither  are  due  to  the  effects  of  climate,  as  is  urged 
by  many  objectors.  Here,  for  example,  is  an  account 
of  the  wild  Exmoor  ponies,  which,  in  many  respects, 


EXMOOR   PONIES.  153 

resemble  those  of  the  American  prairies.  It  is  taken 
from  Sidney's  '  Book  of  the  Horse,'  a  work  which 
by  no  means  advocates  the  theory  that  horses,  as  a 
rule,  need  no  shoes  : — 

'  Horses  bred  on  the  moors,  if  left  to  themselves, 
rapidly  pick  their  way  through  pools  and  bogs,  and 
canter  smoothly  over  dry  flats  of  natural  meadow, 
creep  safely  down  precipitous  descents,  and  climb 
with  scarcely  a  puff  of  distress  these  steep  ascents  ; 
splash  without  a  moment's  hesitation  through  fords 
in  the  forest  streams  swelled  by  rain,  and  trot  along 
without  a  stumble  along  sheep-paths  bestrewed  with 
loose  stones. 

'  A  sight  scarcely  less  interesting  than  the  deer 
was  afforded  by  a  white  pony  mare  with  her  young 
stock,  consisting  of  a  foal  still  sucking,  a  yearling, 
and  a  two-year  old.  The  two-year-old  had  strayed 
away  feeding,  until  alarmed  by  the  cracking  of  our 
whips  and  the  neighing  of  its  dam,  when  it  came 
galloping  down  a  steep  coombe,  neighing  loudly,  at 
headlong  speed.  It  is  thus  that  these  ponies  learn 
their  action  and  sure-footedness.  One  of  these  little 
animals,  barely  four  feet  (12  hands)  in  height,  leaped 
standing  over  a  barrier  five  feet  high,  barely  touching 
it  with  his  hind  feet.' 

In  order  to  realise  the  force  of  this  description, 
the  reader  must  first  understand  what  kind  of  places 


154  HORSE   AVD    MAN. 

are  Exmoor  and  Dartmoor.  Most  people  take  for 
granted  that  moors  and  prairies  are  level  surfaces 
of  great  extent,  covered  with  grass,  and  as  easy  to 
the  feet  as  if  they  were  paddocks.  Mr.  G.  Eansom, 
in  his  '  Horses  and  Eoads,'  quotes  the  account  of  a 
Devonian  : — 

'  Dartmoor  is  not  a  great  wild  flat,  as  many  sup- 
pose, but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  for  the  most  part  a 
continual  succession  of  very  steep,  rough  hills,  or 
'  tors,'  and  rugged  '  coombes,'  strewn  with  granite 
rock  and  stones.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all,  besides  the 
bogs  and  chronic  state  of  rain,  the  herds  of  ponies 
gallop  fearlessly  along  the  rough  sides  of  the  coombes, 
down  and  up.  It  is  a  pretty  sight  to  see  them, 
especially  in  the  spring,  with  the  foals  by  their  sides.' 

Another  writer,  Lieut.  W.  Douglas,  who  has 
been  frequently  quoted  in  these  pages,  is  equally 
strong  on  the  subject : — 

'  From  the  moment  a  horse  is  foaled,  we  either 
keep  him  in  fields  soft  to  tread  upon,  or  in  warm 
stables,  standing  on  soft  straw,  and  then  we  are  sur- 
prised that  his  hoofs  should  become  dry  and  brittle, 
instead  of  keeping  moist,  tough,  and  hard. 

1  In  the  Orkneys,  in  the  mountains  of  Wales,  the 
wilds  of  Exmoor  and  Dartmoor,  in  many  parts  of  the 
continent  of  Europe,  and  for  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  rest  of  the  globe,  horses  run  about  over  rocks, 


THE  SOIL  AND  THE  SHOE.  155 

through  ravines,  and  up  precipitous  ridges,  unshod, 
and  this  to  the  evident  advantage  of  their  hoofs,  for 
these  animals  never  suffer  from  contracted  feet,  or 
from  corns,  sandcracks,  &c,  until  they  have  become 
civilised  and  been  shod.1  (Compare  Lady  Florence 
Dixie's  account,  p.  25.) 

It  may  probably  be  objected  that  the  ponies  of 
Exmoor  and  the  wild  horses  or  '  mustangs '  of  America 
have  neither  burdens  to  bear  nor  loads  to  draw. 
We  will  meet  both  objections. 

We  have  just  seen  that  the  mustangs  are  ridden 
by  very  heavy  riders  for  long  distances,  and  over  the 
hardest  and  roughest  ground.  We  have  also  seen 
that  when  the  Indian  rider  trains  his  horses,  he  never 
dreams  of  putting  iron  shoes  on  its  hoofs,  and  that 
the  horse  does  this  exceptionally  hard  work  without 
requiring  shoes. 

Now  I  find  that  there  is  almost  an  invariable 
point  among  objectors.  They  admit  that  horses 
might  get  on  without  shoes  under  different  circum- 
stances from  those  in  which  they  happen  to  be  placed. 
For  example,  those  who  live  in  low-lying  and  moist 
districts,  such  as  are  found  in  the  Fen  countries,  say 
that  horses  might  possibly  do  without  shoes  on  hard 
and  hilly  countries,  whereas  their  hoofs  would  be 
ruined  by  being  always  in  contact  with  the  roads 
that  pass  through  the  damp  soil  of  marsh  land. 


156  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

Then,  those  who  inhabit  the  hard  hilly  countries 
are  equally  sure  to  say  that  horses  may  travel  unshod 
on  a  level  and  moist  surface,  but  that  their  hoofs 
would  be  cut  to  pieces  on  their  own  stony  hills. 

When  they  are  '  driven  to  their  last  ditch '  by 
being  confronted  with  a  horse  which  is  perpetually 
ridden  and  driven  over  the  worst  roads  in  England, 
and  which  has  worn  no  shoes  for  many  years,  they 
say  that  the  animal  is  an  exceptional  one.  The 
same  series  of  opposition  has  to  be  encountered  by 
anyone  who  dares  to  think  that  the  Creator  can 
make  a  hoof  which  can  do  any  kind  of  work,  in  any 
climate,  so  long  as  it  is  let  alone. 

Generally,  I  find  that  although  many  people,  are 
ready  to  admit  that  unshod  horses  might  answer  for 
riding  purposes,  they  cannot  believe  that  the  unpro- 
tected hoof  will  permit  the  animal  to  draw  a  load 
behind  it.  I  was  not  prepared  to  hear  a  precisely 
opposite  opinion,  and  that  from  a  man  whose  judgment 
is  worthy  of  all  respect.  I  mean  the  late  Lieut.-Col. 
Fred.  Burnaby,  author  of  the  '  Fade  to  Khiva.' 

In  the  course  of  a  conversation  on  the  subject, 
he  stated  that  he  considered  the  horse  as  capable  of 
drawing  loads  without  shoes,  but  not  of  bearing  a 
rider  of  ordinary  weight,  say  eleven  stone.  The 
additional  weight  would,  in  his  opinion,  wear  away 
the  hoof  so   fast   that  Nature  could  not  renew  it 


COL.  F.  BURNABY'S   OPINION.  157 

sufficiently.  As  to  cavalry,  where  the  horse  has  to 
carry  an  abnormal  weight,  i.e.  never  less  than  eighteen 
stone,  he  was  sure  that  the  hoof  could  not  endure 
the  work.  He  expressed  the  same  opinion  to  Mr. 
A.  F.  Astley,  in  a  letter  which  I  possess. 

One  person  who  was  questioned  on  the  subject 
gave  a  precisely  opposite  opinion.  I  cannot  quite 
follow  the  argument,  but  insert  it  in  hopes  that  some- 
one else  may  be  more  fortunate.  'As  driving  does  not 
tire  a  man,  and  riding  does  tire  a  man,  therefore  an 
unshod  horse  if  driven  would  have  a  harder  time  of 
it  than  if  ridden  ! ' 

I  hope  to  show  not  only  that  a  horse  may  do 
either  saddle  or  traction  work  without  shoes,  but 
that  he  actually  does  both  kinds  of  work  on  any 
description  of  road,  and  better  than  when  he  was 
shod.  The  reader  will  observe  that  I  put  forward 
no  theories,  but  state  facts,  and  produce  proofs. 


158  HOUSE  AND   MAN. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

Unshod  horses  now  at  work — Dr.  Llewellyn's  horse  on  London  roads — 
Thirteen  thousand  miles  without  shoes — Always  went  lame  when 
shod — His  transfer  to  Mr.  A.  F.  Astley — Mr.  Astley's  horse  '  Tommy ' 
— State  of  his  hoofs  when  bought — Process  of  training — Work  done 
by  him  unshod  on  hard  roads — Photographs  of  his  hoofs — Mr.  Whit- 
more  Baker's  mare  'Stella' — Facts  versus  theory — Photographs  of 
'  Stella '  and  her  hoofs — Letters  from  Mr.  Baker — Work  done  by 
'  Stella '  barefooted — Galloping  over  ice  or  loose  stones — Mr.  Baker's 
offer  to  enable  other  horses  to  work  unshod — His  preparation  for 
hoofs  and  its  possible  value — Influence  of  external  conditions  on  the 
hoof — The  condemned  tramcar  horse — Result  of  removing  the  shoes 
— Five  hundred  and  forty  miles  unshod — Photograph  of  the  hoof  in 
transitional  state — Mistaken  benevolence. 

Are  there  any  living  horses  which  can  work  without 
shoes  ?  If  so,  how  was  this  condition  of  hoof  at- 
tained ?  How  long  is  it  likely  to  last,  and  on  what 
roads  did  the  horse  work  ? 

As  to  the  first  question,  I  can  produce  the  ex- 
perience of  many  owners  of  shoeless  horses,  but 
prefer  to  take  one  or  two  as  examples,  because  I  am 
empowered  to  give  their  names. 

One  is  a  very  remarkable  horse  which  was  driven 
unshod  for  several  years  by  Dr.  Llewellyn,  of  London, 
and  which  afterwards  passed  into   the  possession  of 


DR.  LLEWELLYN  S  HORSE. 


159 


my  lamented  friend,  the  late  A.  F.  Astley,  of  46 
Great  Cumberland  Place,  Marble  Arch,  W.  Here 
is  a  copy  of  the  certificate  signed  by  the  former 
owner : — 

'  I  certify  that  for  five  and  a  half  years  the  horse 
(whose  hoof  is  here  photographed)  has  done  my 
work  (a  doctor's)  barefoot — that  is  to  say,  without 
iron  of  any  kind  on  his  feet. 

*  This  work  he  has  done  single- 
handed,  for  I  keep  but  one  horse. 
Most  of  his  work  has  been  done 
over  macadamised  roads  in  the 
East  of  London. 

'  He    has  often  worked    seven 
days  a  week,  and  has  frequently 
had  a  heavy  brougham  behind  him. 
In  the  five    and  a  half  years  he 
must  have  traversed  some  13,000  miles.    Daily  work, 
three  or  four  hours.     Though  barefoot,  he  has  worked 
sound,  and  his  hoofs  show  no  signs  of  undue  wear. 
(Signed)   'K.  Ealph  Llewellyn. 

'  July  20.  1883.' 


HOOP  OF  MR.  ASTLEY  8 
HORSE,  PURCHASED 
PROM  DR.  LLEWEL- 
LYN. 


I  here  present  to  my  readers  an  engraving  of  a 
photographic  portrait  of  the  near  fore-hoof  of  this 
horse.  Let  the  reader,  when  examining  it,  bear  in 
mind  that  the  horse  had  traversed  at  least  thirteen 


160 


HORSE   AND    MAN. 


thousand  miles  without  any  protection  to  the  hoof. 
Another  remarkable  point  in  the  history  of  the 
animal  is,  that  he  always  went  lame  when  shod,  but 
has  never  done  so  since  his  shoes  were  removed. 

In  order  to  give  the  reader  a  more  complete  idea 
of  the  appearance  of  the  hoof  when  untrammelled  by 
the  shoe,  I  here  present  him  with  a  fac-simile  of  a  photo- 
graph taken  from  the  two  fore-feet  of  the  same  animal. 


FORE-FEET  OF   DR.   LLEWELLYNS   HORSE. 

I  need  only  request  my  unprejudiced  reader  to 
look  at  this  photograph,  and  ask  himself  whether 
any  shod  hoofs  can  compare  with  these.  I  do  not 
offer  a  fancy  drawing  of  hoofs,  as  I  think  they  ought 
to  be  under  certain  circumstances,  but  give  the 
photographic  portrait  of  hoofs  as  they  are  under 
those  same  conditions. 


'  TOMMY.'  161 

I  may  here  mention  that  when  the  photograph 
was  taken  the  horse  was  fourteen  years  old,  and 
that  its  height  was  fifteen  hands  one  and  a  half 
inches. 

Here  is  another  photograph,  representing  the 
hoof  of  '  Tommy,'  another  of  Mr.  A.  F.  Astley's 
horses. 

I  possess  many  letters  from  Mr.  Astley  in  which 
he  describes  the  trouble  which  he  had  with  '  Tommy,' 
who  was  about  as  unsatisfactory  a 
subject  for  an  experiment  as  could 
well  be  imagined,  having  only  one 
fairly  sound  hoof  out  of  the  four. 
Several  times  his  owner  was  on  the 
point  of  abandoning  the  enterprise 
as  a  failure,  so  fragile  was  the  hoof,     hoop  of  mr.  as j  ley's 

-r>  n  /7  HORSE   '  TOMMY.' 

rerseverance,  however,  as  mostly  is 
the  case,  succeeded  at  last,  and  '  Tommy  '  was  able  to 
work  without    shoes  far   better  than  he  had    done 
while  wearing  them. 

The  history  of  '  Tommy '  is  briefly  as  follows. 

When  the  photograph  was  taken,  the  horse  was 
sufficiently  old  for  his  age  to  be  uncertain.  His 
colour  was  chestnut,  and  his  low-heeled  hoofs  white. 
He  had  then  been  constantly  worked  for  ten  months 
without  shoes  or  any  protection  for  the  hoof. 

The  day  before   the  photograph  was   taken,  Mr. 

M 


162  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

Astley  drove  '  Tommy '  about  twenty-four  miles  on 
hard  road. 

The  two  longest  drives  that  had  then  been  taken 
were  these.  The  first  from  London  to  Watford  and 
back,  between  twenty-nine  and  thirty  miles.  This 
was  taken  on  March  29,  1883.  On  May  14,  of  the 
same  year,  Mr.  Astley  drove  '  Tommy '  to  St.  Albans 
and  back — i.e.  about  forty-two  miles. 

During  tliis  process,  Mr.  Astley  sent  me  a  series 
of  bulletins,  sometimes  in  letters,  which  at  first  were 
quite  despondent,  and  sometimes  by  cards,  stating  the 
number  of  miles  which  '  Tommy '  had  traversed. 

If  the  reader  will  contrast  the  photographs  of 
these  two  animals,  he  will  see  that '  Tommy's  '  hoof  has 
scarcely  any  concavity,  and  therefore  is  not  quite 
so  perfect  an  example  as  that  of  the  former  animal. 
Yet,  although  not  a  perfect  hoof,  it  is  a  good  and 
sound  one.  The  bars  are  boldly  marked,  and  the 
frog  has  become  so  largely  developed,  that  it  fills  up 
almost  the  whole  of  the  concavity.  With  such  a 
hoof  as  this,  the  animal  need  not  fear  the  pointed 
tips  of  shattered  rocks  or  the  razor-like  edges  of 
broken  flints,  and  would  gallop  over  either  in  serene 
unconsciousness  of  their  existence. 

Almost  identical  with  this  hoof  is  that  of  a  mare 
who  has  already  become  historical  in  the  Battle  of 
the  Shoes,   and   around  whom  long  raged  a  wordy 


{  WHO    SHALL    DECIDE?'  163 

battle,  if  it  can  be  called  a  wordy  battle,  where  the 
words  were  all  on  one  side  and  the  facts  on  the 
other.  On  reading  this  controversy,  I  am  irresistibly 
reminded  of  one  in  which  I  was  an  unwilling  par- 
taker. 

Like  many  better  men  than  myself,  I  had  been 
misled  by  popular  prejudice,  and  had  thought  the 
bulldog  to  be  a  stupid,  fierce,  morose,  savage  animal, 
always  ready  to  assault  any  being  except  his  master, 
and  good  for  nothing  except  fighting. 

By  some  chance  it  happened  that  I  became  the 
possessor  of  an  infantile  bull  pup,  and  in  consequence 
had  to  alter  all  my  ideas  on  the  subject.  I  found 
that  '  Apollo,'  as  I  named  him,  because  I  then  lived 
at  Belvedere,  in  Kent,  was  the  sweetest  in  temper, 
the  most  loyally  affectionate,  and,  with  one  excep- 
tion, the  most  intellectual  dog  that  I  ever  knew. 
No  bloodhound  could  surpass  him  in  scent,  and  no 
retriever  could  have  beaten  him  in  water  or  on  land. 

As  in  duty  bound,  I  took  the  first  opportunity 
of  recanting  my  former  opinions,  and  was  very 
much  amused  by  the  criticisms  to  which  I  was  sub- 
jected. 

On  the  one  side,  a  leading  journal  in  the  sporting- 
interest  was  derisively  incredulous,  on  the  ground 
that  no  bulldog  could  have  behaved  in  such  a 
manner,  therefore  that  '  Apollo  '  could  not  have  been 


164  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

a  true  bulldog,  and  that,  therefore,  I  was  unworthy 
of  belief. 

On  the  other  side,  the  '  Saturday  Beview '  made 
the  following  remarks,  with  which  I  entirely  coin- 
cide : — '  We  cannot  imagine  how  such  a  lover  and 
observer  of  animals  as  Mr.  Wood  could  ever,  save 
in  his  greenest  and  most  salad  days,  have  entertained, 
as  he  confesses  he  did  entertain,  the  vulgar  and 
utterly  unfounded  notion  that  the  bulldog  is  a  savage 
and  morose  brute  ;  the  bulldog  being  as  amiable 
an  animal  as  walks  the  face  of  the  earth.' 

Yery  similar  was  the  controversy  respecting 
*  Stella,'  the  mare  in  question.  She  was  of  good  lineage, 
being  the  daughter  of '  Blair  Athol,'  and  in  1880,  when 
her  owner,  Mr.  Whitmore  Baker,  then  of  Totnes,  but 
now  of  Paignton,  Devon,  began  his  experiments,  she 
was  seven  years  old.  She  had  been  hunted  in  Devon- 
shire for  two  seasons,  and  had  been  used  as  a  hack 
and  also  for  drawing  a  four  wheeled  '  trap.'  In 
December  1880  Mr.  Baker  had  the  shoes  removed, 
and  tried  the  experiment  of  allowing  the  animal 
to  do  her  work  upon  her  own  feet,  without  a  pro- 
tection of  any  kind. 

'  I  then  rode  the  mare,'  writes  Mr.  Baker,  in 
a  letter  addressed  to  the  '  Field,'  newspaper,  '  when 
snow  and  ice  were  on  the  ground  last  winter  on 
the  roads  in  this  neighbourhood,  and  in  the  town  of 


1  STELLA.'  165 

Totnes.  My  weight  being  over  twelve  stone,  and 
the  roads  almost  impassable  for  horses  shod  in  the 
ordinary  way,  I  was  highly  gratified  to  find  that  the 
mare  was  able  to  trot  over  the  slippery  ground 
without  fear  of  slipping,  and  this  encouraged  me  to 
persevere  with  my  treatment.  After  the  nail-holes 
had  disappeared  in  the  natural  growth  of  the  hoof, 
the  frog  grew  to  its  natural  state,  and  the  hoof  as- 
sumed its  natural  form. 

'  From  the  time  of  my  first  experiment  to  this 
date  (March  11,  1882)  the  mare  has  been  without 
shoes,  and  has  been  worked  both  for  riding  and 
driving  constantly  on  the  roads  in  this  neighbour- 
hood, all  of  them  hilly,  and  some  of  them  very  rough 
and  trying  to  horses. 

4  The  result  has  been  that  the  mare  has  never 
fallen  lame  nor  shirked  work,  but  has  stepped  with 
greater  freedom  and  ease  than  she  ever  did  before. 
Sometimes,  during  this  period  of  fourteen  months, 
she  has  travelled  ninety-six  miles  in  one  week,  and 
now  she  is  as  sound  as  a  bell,  and  never  has  suffered 
from  the  absence  of  shoes  in  any  way  whatever.  Nay, 
more  ;  before  I  removed  the  shoes  she  was  occasion- 
ally lame,  but  since  their  removal  she  has  not  been 
lame  once. 

'  Those  of  your  readers  who  know  what  Devon- 
shire roads   are  will,  I  think,  concede   that   the  test 


166  HORSE    AND    MAN. 

is  a  severe  one.  The  result  is,  to  my  mind,  conclu- 
sive, and  the  mare  is  with  me  now,  unshod,  and 
doing  her  usual  work.' 

Mr.  Baker's  success  naturally  drew  upon  him 
the  wrath  of  those  whose  living  depended  on  farriery, 
and  their  angry  letters  to  the  newspapers  are 
numerous  and  amusing.  Of  course  no  real  argu- 
ments could  be  produced,  the  writers  having  re- 
course to  sarcasm,  denial  of  facts,  and  invective. 

One  of  these  professionals,  in  a  long  letter  to 
the  '  North  Devon  Journal,'  employs  a  most  ludicrous 
series  of  objections.  He  cannot  deny  that  the  animal 
wears  no  shoes,  and  may  be  able  '  to  potter  about, 
and  do  the  little  she  has  to  do  barefooted.'  Then 
he  states  that  the  unshod  hoof  cannot  withstand 
contact  with  the  hard  roads  if  the  animal  be  worked 
regularly,  entirely  ignoring  the  fact  that  the  horse 
was  worked  regularly,  and  had  done  nearly  one 
hundred  miles  in  a  week. 

Then  he  says  that  he  has  seen  horses  quite  lame 
which  had  been  working  unshod  on  a  farm,  and 
therefore  that  it  is  impossible  to  work  on  a  road 
without  going  lame.  Then  he  accuses  Mr.  Baker  of 
retrogression  to  the  barbarian  days  when  there  were 
no  blacksmiths,  so  that  the  horses  could  not  obtain 
shoes,  although  they  needed  them. 

Lastly,  he  takes  a  higher  standpoint,  and  boldly 


A   STRANGE    ARGUMENT.  107 

taxes  Mr.  Baker  with  irreligion.  '  Did  not  He  who 
formed  the  horse  most  surely  intend  that  we  should  live 
by  one  another ;  and  is  it  not  civilisation  that  brought 
about  industry  of  every  description  ;  and  did  not  He 
who  ordereth  all  things  put  it  into  the  heart  of  man 
to  study  what  could  be  done  to  protect  the  feet  of 
that  useful  animal  the  horse  ? ' 

Which  argument,  being  reduced  to  its  elements, 
means  that  the  Creator  made  the  horse's  hoof  unable 
to  do  its  work,  so  that  farriers  might  gain  a  living 
by  nailing  iron  shoes  upon  it.  As  I  can  scarcely 
expect  any  reader  to  believe  that  such  fatuous  non- 
sense could  be  put  forward  as  arguments,  I  must  re- 
fer him  to  the  '  North  Devon  Journal '  of  May  11, 1 882. 

There  is  now  before  me  a  cast  of  the  off-fore 
hoof  of  this  very  animal  which  was  benighted  and 
irreligious  enough  to  do  its  work  without  shoes  when 
the  professional  shoer  said  that  it  could  not  work 
unshod  ;  or  that,  if  it  did,  it  was  flying  in  the  face  of 
Providence.  The  cast  was  taken  in  December  1882 — 
i.e.  eight  months  after  the  letter  was  written. 

In  spite  of  the  high  lineage  of  the  animal,  the 
hoof  is  not  a  first-rate  one,  the  slope  being  too  great. 
From  heel  to  heel  the  circumference  of  the  wall  is 
thirteen  inches  ;  from  heel  to  toe  it  measures  five 
and  a  quarter  inches,  and  across  the  quarters  it  is  a 
trifle  more  than  four  inches. 


168  HORSE    AND    MAN. 

The  weight  of  the  horse  was  necessarily  taken  off 
the  hoof  when  the  cast  was  made.  Had  the  opposite 
foot  been  lifted  from  the  ground,  so  that  the  animal 
would  have  been  obliged  to  rest  upon  the  hoof,  these 
dimensions  would  have  been  slightly  altered. 

I  have  exhibited  this  cast  in  most  of  the  large 
cities  and  towns  of  this  country,  as  well  as  in  Ame- 
rica, and  in  every  case  it  has  excited  the  greatest 
interest.  The  most  remarkable  point  about  it  is 
the  manner  in  which  the  under  surface  is  filled  up, 
the  only  cavity  being  that  on  either  side  of  the  frog 
there  is  a  depression  scarcely  large  enough  to  con- 
tain the  last  two  joints  of  a  lady's  little  finger. 

Wishing  to  know  whether  in  the  autumn  of  1884 
4  Stella  '  was  still  in  the  possession  of  loofs  as  sound 
as  those  of  1882,  and  still  did  the  same  amount  of 
hard  work,  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Whitmore  Baker,  and  re- 
ceived the  following  answer  : — 

'  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  stating  that  my  mare 
"  Stella's  "  hoofs  continue  in  the  most  perfect  condition, 
and  I  shall  be  most  happy  if  I  can  assist  you.  Devon- 
shire may  be  an  exceptional  county  (at  least  I  hope 
so),  for  though  my  mare  is  known  far  and  wide  to 
travel  shoeless,  still,  nothing  further  is  said  than,  "  It 
is  wonderful !  "  and  "  '  Stella '  is  one  of  a  million." 

'  I  have  offered  to  take  any  horse  sent  to  me,  and  to 
prepare  the  hoofs  without  any  fee,  simply  the  expense 


A    GENEROUS    OFFER.  l'G9 

of  keep  being  paid.  But  none  have  sufficient  faith  ! 
Should  any  one  you  know  be  inclined  to  send  me  a 
horse,  it  would  have  my  undivided  attention,  and  be 
another  test  of  the  perfect  success  of  my  scheme. 

'  I  must  ask  you  to  accept  on  my  word  the  fol- 
lowing advantages  derived  from  my  own  experience  : 

'  1.  Five  or  six  pounds  per  annum  are  saved  by 
non-shoeing,  including  the  frost  nails  in  winter. 

'  2.  I  can  gallop  "  Stella"  on  a  road  covered  with 
ice,  when  other  horses  are  not  safe  even  with  the  use 
of  frost  nails. 

'  3.  The  weight  of  the  shoes  is  taken  off  the  feet, 
which  is  a  considerable  help  to  the  horse. 

'  4.  The  foot,  being  flat  from  the  frog,  and  down 
to  the  ground,  leaves  no  receptacle  for  stones. 

'  5.  There  is  none  of  the  unnecessary  jar  caused 
by  the  shoes,  so  that  the  horse  travels  freer  and 
lighter.' 

No  question  of  theory  can  arise  in  this  instance. 
The  fact  is,  that  the  horse  has  been  regularly  working 
unshod  over  some  of  the  most  trying  roads  in  Eng- 
land. The  theory  is,  that  no  horse  can  perforin  such 
a  task,  or  that,  if  so,  the  animal  must  be  an  exceptional 
one.  Mr.  Baker,  resting  on  fact,  generously  offers  to 
take  any  horse  that  may  be  sent  to  him,  and  to  make 
its  hoofs  as  sound  as  those  of  '  Stella.'  Mr.  A.  F. 
Astley,  also  resting  on  facts,  made  his  first  experiment 


170  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

on  an  unsound  horse ;  failed  at  first,  but  ultimately 
succeeded,  and,  but  for  his  premature  death,  he  would 
have  picked  out  a  series  of  horses  condemned  on 
account  of  their  hopelessly  foundered  condition,  and 
tried  to  give  them  another  lease  of  life,  together 
with  the  power  of  work  and  the  capacity  of  en- 
joyment. 

In  another  letter,  dated  Sept.  13,  1  884,  Mr.  AVliit- 
more  Baker  writes  to  me  as  follows  : — 

*  There  is  one  thing  which  I  did  not  state  in  my 
last,  and  which  will  perhaps  interest  you.  Having 
some  knowledge  of  chemistry,  I  made  a  preparation 
for  toughening  born  ;  I  then  had  my  mare's  shoes 
removed,  the  edges  neatly  rasped,  and  the  nail-holes 
phigged  up  with  whalebone.  I  then  used  my  pre- 
paration three  times  daily,  gradually  exercising  the 
mare  over  the  road,  and  never  allowing  her  to  stand 
on  straw  except  for  bedding. 

'  Though  I  place  great  importance  on  the  prepa- 
ration, I  do  not  say  that  a  horse  will  not  succeed  with- 
out it.  But  I  maintain  that  it  facilitates  the  process 
by  allowing  the  heels  and  frog  to  take  a  bearing  before 
sufficient  horn  has  been  worn  away  to  make  the  parts 
sensitive.  I  have  known  many  instances  where  the 
shoes  have  been  taken  off  and  nothing  done  to  the 
feet,  and  all  have  become  lame  within  a  month  or  so.' 

Mr.  Whitmore  Baker's  idea  of  plugging  the  nail- 


PORTRAIT   OF    'STELLA.'  171 

holes  with  whalebone  is  a  singularly  happy  one,  the 
whalebone  and  hoof  being  identical  in  structure,  and 
the  fibres  running  in  the  same  direction.  Ordinary 
horn  would  answer  as  well  if  cut  longitudinally,  but 
whalebone  is  much  easier  to  handle. 

With  regard  to  the  preparation  invented  by  Mr. 
Baker,  it  is  certainly  not  necessary,  as  is  shown  by 
the  number  of  hoofs  which  have  become  strong  and 
sound  without  it ;  but  it  only  hastens  the  process  of 
hardening,  or  adds  to  its  chances  of  success. 

The  portrait  of '  Stella  '  and  her  mistress  (see  Fron- 
tispiece) is  engraved  by  permission  from  a  photograph 
taken  by  Messrs.  Brinley  &  Son,  Fore  Street,  Totnes. 

The  owner  of  a  soft-hoofed  horse  may  naturally 
fear  to  expose  the  animal  to  such  an  ordeal  as  a 
journey  upon  hard  and  stony  roads.  Yet  success 
is  only  a  matter  of  time,  the  hoof  having  the  power 
of  accommodating  itself  to  any  kind  of  ground. 
This  is  forcibly  shown  by  Professor  Fleming.  After 
mentioning  the  influence  of  climate,  of  weather,  of 
health,  of  age,  food,  and  labour  upon  the  hoof,  he 
proceeds  as  follows  : — 

'  The  seasons  are  to  some  extent  concerned  in  the 
growth  and  shape  of  the  hoof.  In  winter  it  widens, 
becomes  softer,  and  grows  but  little.  In  summer  it  is 
condensed,  becomes  more  rigid,  concave,  and  resisting, 
is  exposed  to  severe  wear,  and  grows  more  rapidly. 


172  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

This  variation  is  a  provision  of  Nature  to  enable  the 
hoof  to  adapt  itself  to  the  altered  condition  it  has  to 
meet — hard  horn  to  hard  ground,  soft  horn  to  soft 
ground. 

'  In  this  way  we  can  account  for  the  influence  of 
locality  upon  the  shape  of  the  foot.  On  hard  dry 
ground  the  hoof  is  dense,  tenacious,  and  somewhat 
small,  with  a  concave  sole,  and  a  little  but  firm  frog  ; 
while  in  marshy  regions  it  is  large  and  spreading,  the 
horn  is  soft  and  easily  destroyed  by  wear,  the  sole  is 
thin  and  flat,  and  the  frog  is  only  an  immense  spongy 
mass,  which  is  badly  fitted  to  receive  pressure  from 
even  hardened  soil. 

'  In  a  dry  climate  we  have  an  animal  small,  com- 
pact, wiry,  and  vigorous,  travelling  on  a  surface  which 
demands  a  tenacious  hoof,  and  not  one  to  prevent 
sinking.  In  the  marshy  region,  we  have  a  large, 
heavy,  lymphatic  creature,  one  of  whose  primary 
requirements  is  a  wide,  flat  foot  to  enable  it  to  travel 
on  a  soft,  yielding  surface. 

'  Change  the  respective  situations  of  these  two 
horses,  and  Nature  immediately  begins  to  transform 
them  and  their  feet.  At  first  the  light,  excitable, 
vigorous  horse,  with  its  small  vertical  hoofs  and  con- 
cave soles,  so  admirably  disposed  to  traverse  rocky 
and  slippery  surfaces,  is  physically  incompetent  to 
exist  in  low-lying    swamps.     The  unwieldy  animal, 


CHANGED    CONDITIONS.  173 

slow  paced  and  torpid,  with  a  foot  perfectly  adapted 
to  such  a  region  (its  ground  face  being  so  extensive 
and  flat  that  it  sinks  but  little,  and  the  frog  developed 
to  such  a  degree  as  to  resemble  a  ploughshare  in 
form,  which  gives  it  a  grip  of  the  soft,  slippery 
ground),  is  but  indifferently  suited  for  travelling  on 
a  hard,  rugged  surface. 

*  In  process  of  time,  however,  the  small,  concave  hoof 
expands  and  flattens,  and  the  large  flat  one  gradually  be- 
comes concentrated,  hardened,  and  hollow,  these  changes 
being  designed  to  suit  the  altered  physical  conditions 
in  which  the  animals  are  placed.' — (Prize  Essay,  1870.) 

The  above  extract  from  Professor  Fleming's  essay 
shows  that  the  conversion  of  a  soft  hoof  into  a  hard 
one  is  simply  a  matter  of  time,  and  that  the  owner 
of  a  soft-hoofed  horse  must  not  be  discouraged  if  the 
process  should  not  be  as  rapid  as  he  expected. 

There  is  yet  another  point  to  be  considered. 
Professor  Fleming  goes  on  the  supposition  that  the 
two  horses  possessed  untouched  hoofs  ;  and  it  is  evi- 
dent that  if  the  hoofs  had  been  mutilated  by  the 
farrier,  the  process  must  take  a  still  longer  time. 
Here  again,  owing  to  the  variability  of  hoof-growth 
in  different  animals,  it  is  impossible  to  lay  down  any 
definite  law  on  the  subject. 

Taking  the  average  of  growth,  the  entire  hoof  of 
a  shod  horse  is  renewed   annually.     But  when  the 


174  HOESE   AOT>    MAN. 

hoof  is  worn  away  by  friction  upon  hard  ground,  the 
growth  is  faster,  in  order  to  keep  pace  with  the 
waste.  Keeping  these  two  facts  in  mind,  remember- 
ing that  all  the  nail-holes  must  have  grown  out,  and 
not  forgetting  the  idiosyncrasy  of  the  animal,  the 
trainer  can  form  a  very  fair  judgment  of  the  time 
which  must  elapse  before  the  hoofs  can  do  their  full 
work  on  hard  roads.  That  the  softest  and  worst 
hoof  can  be  strengthened  for  shoeless  work  is  shown 
by  Mr.  Baker's  experience  and  challenge. 

Let  me  again  remind  the  reader  that  I  am  dealing 
with  facts  and  not  with  theories. 

Here  are  more  facts. 

The  manager  of  one  of  our  tram-car  lines  wrote, 
under  the  nom  de plume  of  '  Humane,'  a  very  remark- 
able letter,  which  is  given  in  full  in  Appendix  K  of 
'  Horses  and  Eoads.'  I  possess  the  real  name  of  the 
writer.  He  begins  by  saying  that  he  has  to  manage 
a  working  staff  of  thirty  horses,  whose  work  is  on 
stone-paved  roads,  and  who  have  to  run  about 
eighteen  miles  per  diem,  at  an  average  rate  of  six 
miles  an  hour,  stoppages  included.  Each  of  the 
shoes  which  these  horses  formerly  wore  weighed 
nearly  two  pounds,  and  the  animals  very  soon  took 
to  brushing  and  cutting,  and  then  began  to  '  go  over 
on  the  knees.' 

Suspecting  that  the  fault  lay  in  the  shoe  and  not 


A   TRAM-CAR   HORSE.  175 

in  the  horse,  'Humane'  procured  a  set  of  Charlier 
shoes,  and  tried  them  on  one  of  the  horses.  They 
were  ten-inch  shoes  — i.e.  more  than  double  the  need- 
ful length.  The  horse  was  run  for  nearly  two 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  as  a  test,  and  the  plan 
answered  so  well  that  the  ordinary  shoes  were  aban- 
doned and  the  Charlier  substituted. 

■  Humane,'  however,  was  not  content  with  the 
ordinary  Charlier,  but  tried  a  series  of  experiments, 
the  result  being  that  '  the  shorter  the  iron,  the  better 
it  answers.'  So  he  now  limits  the  length  of  the  shoe 
to  four  inches,  its  weight,  nails  included,  being  four 
ounces,  as  against  the  thirty-two  ounces  (without 
nails)  of  the  shoes  which  were  formerly  used. 

He  makes  his  own  shoes  in  the  following  manner  : 
1 1  buy  the  half-inch  round  iron  and  flatten  it  to 
three-eighths  by  half  an  inch.  I  cut  off  four  inches, 
wei^hino-  four  ounces,  and  nail  on  with  No.  6 
countersunk  nails.' 

Here  I  present  the  reader  with  an  illustration 
copied  from  a  photograph  taken  from  one  of 
'  Humane's '  tram-car  horses.  The  animal  was  one 
of  the  worst  '  screws,'  and  was  condemned  to  the 
knacker  on  account  of  his  hopelessly  diseased  feet. 
His  master,  however,  determined  to  give  him  a 
chance  of  life,  and  tried  the  Charlier  plan.  The 
horse  at  once  went  better  for  the  change,  and  soon 


176 


HORSE    AND    MAN. 


ran  perfectly  sound.  When  the  ten-inch  shoe  (shown 
in  the  photograph)  was  removed,  a  four-inch  shoe  was 
substituted  with  the  best  effects.  Lastly,  when  the 
shoe  had  to  be  taken  off,  '  Humane '  tried  the  experi- 
ment of  leaving  the  hoof  entirely  without  protection. 
This  battered,  condemned,  and  hopelessly  diseased 
'  screw  '  then  ran  five  hundred  and  forty  miles  with- 
out shoes,  and  did  his  work  with  more  ease  than  ever. 
Finding  that  his  worst  horse  did 
so  well,  '  Humane '  removed  the 
shoes  from  three  others,  the  result 
answering  all  his  expectations.  Un- 
fortunate!/, horses,  like  men,  have 
reasons  to  pray  to  be  saved  from 
their  friends.  Some  well-meaning 
but  ignorant  persons  raised  the  cry 
of  cruelty,  with  all  the  usual  nonsense  about  artificial 
roads  compelling  the  use  of  artificial  protection,  and 
'  Humane  '  was  obliged  to  have  the  horses  again  shod. 
He  did  not,  however,  return  to  the  ordinary  shoe, 
but  employed  the  tip,  which,  though  it  may  do  no 
good,  does  less  harm  to  the  hoof  than  any  other  form 
of  shoe. 

I  regret  to  say  that  I  have  heard  of  more  than 
one  case  where  the  managers  of  the  E.  S.  P.  C.  A. 
have  openly  declared  that  they  will  prosecute  any- 
one  who    rides    or    drives    a   horse   without    shoes. 


HOOF      OF     TRAM-CAR 
HORSE  ('HUMANE'). 


SAVE    ME   FROM   MY   FRIENDS.  177 

They  refuse  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with 
the  structure  of  the  hoof,  to  listen  to  arguments, 
or  examine  proofs.  Mostly  they  have  made  up  their 
minds  that  to  drive  a  horse  without  shoes  over  hard 
roads  would  be  as  cruel  as  to  make  a  man  take  off 
his  shoes  and  run  over  the  stones  at  once. 

Sometimes  they  have  consulted  farriers,  grooms, 
&c,  and  of  course  have  been  told  that  for  a  horse 
to  traverse  roads  unshod  would  be  impossible,  be- 
cause if  the  hard  iron  be  worn  away  by  friction,  the 
comparatively  soft  horn  could  not  possibly  endure 
the  work.  Thinking  that  people  who  have  been 
employed  about  horses  all  their  lives  could  not  be 
mistaken  in  such  a  subject,  they  accept  the  state- 
ment as  if  it  were  the  result  of  experience  based  on 
facts,  and  were  not,  as  it  really  is,  a  mere  opinion 
of  a  subject  in  which  they  have  had  no  practical 
experience. 


N 


178  HOUSE   AND   MAN. 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

Hardening  and  renovating  the  hoof — Variety  in  hoofs — Thrush  concealed 
hy  shoe — Dr.  Brierley's  horses — Horses  in  Italy — Mr.  Theodore  E. 
Williams's  horse  '  Prince ' — Lame  when  shod — Experiment  on  another 
horse,  and  result — Mr.  Herbert  Smith's  experiments — Altered  shape 
of  hoof — Need  of  perseverance — Xenophon's  rules  for  hardening  the 
hoof — General  summary  of  the  subject. 

We  will  close  this  portion  of  the  work  with  a  more 
detailed  description  of  the  process  which  a  horse's 
hoof  must  undergo  in  order  to  enable  it  to  do  work 
upon  our  roads  without  any  artificial  '  protection.' 

It  seems  rather  curious  that  we  should  want  to 
protect  exactly  that  part  of  a  horse's  structure  which 
Nature  has  triply  protected.  It  is  still  more  curious 
that  the  means  which  we  employ  for  this  purpose 
are  such  that  it  is  impossible  to  use  them  without 
injuring  and  mutilating  the  very  structures  which 
we  are  trying  to  protect. 

If  all  roads,  and  all  hoofs,  and  all  horses  were 
alike,  the  process  would  be  comparatively  easy. 
But,  as  everyone  knows,  there  is  a  vast  variety  in 
roads,  and  there  is  still  more  variety  in  hoofs  and 
horses. 


VARIETY   IN   HOOFS.  170 

As  to  the  lioofs,  they  vary  in  shape,  in  texture, 
in  the  rapidity  of  their  growth,  and  in  the  angle  at 
which  they  are  set  on  the  ground.  There  are  round 
hoofs  and  long  hoofs,  high  hoofs  and  flat  hoofs,  tough 
hoofs  and  brittle  hoofs,  &c. 

Then,  as  it  is  very  difficult  to  procure  a  horse 
whose  hoofs  have  been  untouched,  it  is  necessary 
to  take  into  consideration  the  amount  of  mutilation 
to  which  they  have  been  subjected,  and  the  conse- 
quent caution  that  will  be  required  in  the  treatment. 

Again,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  even  if 
no  interior  ailment  be  manifest,  incipient  thrush  may 
exist,  and  exhibit  no  symptoms  until  the  removal 
of  the  shoe  and  the  pressure  of  the  hoof  upon  the 
ground  cause  it  to  be  detected.  (X.B. — When  this  is 
the  case,  there  are  sure  to  be  some  who  will  say  that 
the  thrush  was  caused  and  not  detected  by  the  re- 
moval of  the  shoe.) 

Thus,  although  the  general  structure  of  the  hoof 
is  alike  in  all  horses,  and  the  principle  in  which  it  is 
to  be  renovated  is  the  same,  the  details  must  be 
subject  to  considerable  variation,  the  amount  and 
kind  of  which  must  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
owner. 

On  referring  to  page  164,  the  reader  will  see  that 
Mr.  Whitmore  Baker  gives  a  minute  description  of 
the   method   which   he   employed   while    hardening 

N  2 


180  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

the  hoofs  of  '  Stella.'  With  the  exception  of  the 
special  '  preparation  '  Mr.  Astley  used  similar  means 
when  dealing  with  '  Tommy's  '  hoofs  ;  and,  although 
three  hoofs  of  his  horse  were  unsound,  succeeded, 
after  several  apparent  failures,  in  rendering  the 
animal  able  to  do  exceptionally  good  work  upon 
hard  roads  without  any  artificial  protection  to  the 
hoofs. 

Dr.  Brierley,  of  Manchester,  who  drove  his  unshod 
horse  for  years  over  the  rough  granite  roads  of  that 
city,  used  no  means  except  a  gradually  increasing 
exercise  on  hard  ground.  I  have  seen  and  handled 
the  horse,  which  was  then  in  full  work,  and  all  its 
hoofs  were  absolutely  perfect. 

Dr.  Brierley  has  now  a  thirteen-hand  pony, 
which,  when  purchased,  was  about  four  years  old, 
had  never  been  shod,  but  had  not  done  much  work. 
However,  as  Dr.  Brierley  writes  in  a  letter  to  me 
(September  7,  1884),  '  I  ran  him  for  a  month  without 
shoes,  and  he  ran  perfectly  well,  and  stepped.  He 
was  absolutely  sound,  and  the  hoofs  perfect.  I  con- 
templated selling  him,  and  had  him  shod  with 
Charliers,  and  ran  him  in  that  way  up  to  a  month 
ago,  when  he  fell,  barking  both  knees,  while  passing 
through  Tarporley,  in  Cheshire.' 

The  pony  was  now  again  worked,  and  when  the 
set  of  shoes  had  worn  out,  the  hinder  pair  were  not 


ITALIAN    HORSES.  181 

replaced.  (I  may  here  mention  that  horses  in  Eome 
and  Naples,  where  the  pavement  is  made  of  lava, 
which  in  wet  weather  is  as  slippery  as  ice,  are 
scarcely  ever  shod  on  the  hind  feet,  while  many  are 
not  shod  at  all.  In  some  parts,  where  the  road  is 
very  bad,  there  are  notices  requiring  all  riders  of 
shod  horses  to  dismount.)  But  Dr.  Brierley  mentions 
that  the  space  between  the  frog  and  the  sole  in  his 
pony  was  so  large  that  small  stones  became  jammed  in 
the  angle,  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  have  it  filled  up 
with  leather.  Now,  it  is  evident  that  the  farrier's 
knife  must  have  been  at  work,  and  that  the  Charliers 
were  complete  shoes  and  not  tips,  as  they  ought  to 
have  been.  Had  the  hoof  been  let  alone,  there  could 
have  been  no  space  to  fill  up,  and  had  there  been  no 
shoe,  there  could  have  been  no  angle  for  the  lodg 
ment  of  stones. 

It  is  but  natural  to  ask  why  a  horse  which  was 
in  full  work,  which  had  all  its  feet  sound,  and 
which,  in  addition,  possessed  the  much-coveted 
'  action,'  should  have  been  shod  at  all.  The  reason 
was,  that  the  animal  was  intended  for  sale,  and 
that  at  the  present  day  purchasers  can  hardly 
be  found  for  an  unshod  horse.  They  are  so  much 
accustomed  to  the  shoe,  that  if  an  unshod  horse 
were  offered  for  sale,  they  would  jump  to  the  con- 
clusion that  there  was  something  wrong  about  the 


182  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

hoof,  and  that  the  owner  did  not  dare  to  put  on 
a  shoe. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  in  the  case  of  the  Man- 
chester pony,  the  animal's  troubles  began  after  the 
shoes  were  applied,  and  that  for  some  of  them,  such 
as  the  lodgment  of  stones,  the  shoe  was  the  sole 
cause. 

I  will  give  two  more  examples  of  horses  that  work 
without  shoes. 

Having  heard  that  Mr.  Theodore  E.  Williams,  of 
Salterley  Grange,  near  Cheltenham,  had  for  some 
time  freed  his  horses  from  shoes,  I  wrote  for 
further  information,  and  received  the  following 
answer : — 

« September  15, 1884. 

'In  reply  to  your  request  for  information  respect- 
ing my  unshod  horses,  I  may  observe  that  I  first 
discarded  shoes  about  three  years  ago  in  conse- 
quence of  a  hunter  called  "Prince"  being  slightly 
lame  a  day  or  two  after  hunting  in  the  dry  weather 
of  March,  which  I  attributed  to  the  concussion  with 
the  iron  shoe  on  hard  ground. 

'  Considering  how  this  was  to  be  avoided,  I  felt 
that  the  iron  was  harder  even  than  the  ground  over 
which  the  horse  had  to  travel ;  I  therefore  deter- 
mined to  remove  the  shoes,  and  to  allow  the  horse's 
hoofs  to  recover  their  natural  shape  and  condition, 


mr.  williams's  experiment.  183 

in  which,  of  course,  there  would  be  no  nail-holes. 
So  I  placed  the  horse  in  a  straw  yard,  and  fed  him 
with  vetches  and  clover.  As  his  hoofs  grew,  they 
were  pared  and  rasped,  until  the  nail-holes  had 
entirely  disappeared. 

'  He  was  then  transferred  to  the  stable,  and  exer- 
cised as  usual,  but  I  soon  found  that  his  feet  wore 
away  faster  than  they  grew.  In  trying  to  restore 
the  horse  to  its  natural  condition,  I  was  asking  him 
to  travel  over  roads  almost  as  hard  as  rock,  while 
for  twenty  hours  out  of  twenty-four  he  stood  on 
litter  as  soft  as  grass.  It  was  like  a  hand  accus- 
tomed to  be  gloved  working  the  ropes  of  a  ship, 
or  an  English  gentleman's  child  trying  to  race  bare- 
footed on  the  granite  roads  with  the  shoeless  children 
of  the  Scotch  Highlands. 

'I  therefore  had  the  litter  removed  by  day,  and 
henceforth  the  horse's  feet  became  as  tough  and  hard 
as  oak,  and  he  has  ever  since  travelled  with  ease 
and  elasticity.  My  companions  in  the  hunting  field 
are  often  astonished  to  see  how  readily  he  gallops 
along  a  road,  even  when  fresh  stoned  ;  and  when,  as 
occasionally  happens,  he  has  to  jump  a  fence  into 
a  road,  he  does  so  with  much  less  "jar  "  to  his  legs. 
In  difficult  places  I  am  sure  he  is  more  active  and 
quicker  in  recovering  himself  than  when  shod,  and 
he  has  never  been  lame  since  his  shoes  were  removed. 


134  HORSE   AND   MAX. 

4  Many  of  my  friends  said,  "  Ah  !  you  have  cer- 
tainly succeeded  with  that  horse,  but  then  he  is  light, 
and  must  have  exceptionally  good  feet.  You  could 
not  do  the  same  with  a  heavy  horse,  as  he  would 
knock  his  hoofs  all  to  pieces." 

'  I  therefore,  the  summer  before  last,  removed 
the  shoes  from  a  sixteen-hand  six-year-old  horse, 
well  up  to  sixteen  stone,  and  turned  him  out.  I 
frequently  rasped  his  feet  until  the  nail -holes  dis- 
appeared, allowing  the  wall  of  the  hoof  to  project 
very  little  beyond  the  sole. 

4  He  ran  throughout  the  summer,  but  was  often 
otherwise  worked,  although  his  feet  were  not  specially 
hardened  for  it.  For  instance,  I  give  three  days' 
work  in  succession.  First  day,  sixteen  miles,  ridden 
fast  on  the  road.  Second  day,  driven  seven  miles  in 
single  harness,  drawing  five  or  six  people.  Third 
day,  ridden  twenty-four  miles  on  the  road.  Through- 
out the  summer  I  used  him  whenever  I  wanted  an 
extra  horse.  Last  winter,  I  hunted  him  in  his  turn 
with  as  satisfactory  results  as  those  before  mentioned 
with  regard  to  "  Prince,"  and  this  summer  he  has 
been  kept  in  condition,  and  regularly  ridden  and 
driven. 

4  In  addition  to  the  horse's  action  being  more 
elastic,  and  therefore  much  pleasanter  to  ride,  I  con- 
sider he  is  safer,  and  it  is  obvious  that  I  avoid  the 


AX0THER   EXPERIMENT.  185 

risk  of  nail-pricks,  corns,  over-reaches,  seedy  toes, 
contracted  feet,  and  probably  of  splints  and  side 
bones ;  I  therefore  think  that  these  horses  are 
likely  to  work  much  longer  than  if  shod.' 

This  letter  is  a  peculiarly  valuable  one,  because  it 
contains  a  practical  answer  to  almost  every  objection 
that  can  be  made.  That  the  horse  '  Prince  '  was  an  ex- 
ceptional animal  is  answered  by  the  success  with  the 
second  horse.  That  an  unshod  hoof  would  be  cut 
to  pieces  on  a  newly-mended  road  is  disproved  by 
practice  ;  and,  as  the  same  horse  was  used  for  hunting 
across  country,  for  riding  over  roads,  and  for  driving 
a  carriage  in  single  harness,  the  unshod  hoof  is 
shown  to  be  equal  to  any  kind  of  work. 

One  more  instance  of  the  power  of  common  sense 
and  perseverance. 

The  following  letter,  narrating  the  history  of  a 
horse  transformed  from  a  shod  into  an  unshod 
animal,  is  extremely  valuable,  as  it  shows  what  can 
be  achieved  by  common  sense  when  matched  against 
prejudice  : — 

1  Marton,  Rugby  :  June  5,  1882. 

'Dear  Sir, — In  accordance  with  my  promise,  I 
write  you  the  result  of  driving  my  horse  without 
shoes. 

'  He  was  rising  five  years,  and  had  been  shod  ever 
since  he  was  handled.     He  was  a  bad  subject  for  the 


186  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

experiment,  as  he  could  never  bear  the  frog  to  touch 
the  ground.  I  have  now  driven  him  for  six  months, 
and  he  travels  much  easier  to  the  driver,  bears 
thoroughly  on  the  frog  of  his  foot,  and  is  more  sure- 
footed. I  do  not  intend  him  to  be  shod  again,  and 
had  I  a  colt,  I  should  never  shoe  him.  The  chief 
objection  to  removing  the  shoes  from  a  horse  ac- 
customed to  them  is  the  expense  of  keeping  him  idle 
until  the  hoof  begins  to  assume  its  natural  shape. 

'  I  was  fortunate  in  having  a  groom  who  endea- 
voured to  carry  out  my  ideas  in  spite  of  his  own 
prejudices. 

'  Any  person  trying  the  experiment  should  insist 
upon  thorough  cleanliness  in  his  stable,  look  after 
the  horse  himself,  be  endowed  with  perseverance, 
and  armed  in  proof  against  ridicule. 

'I  may  say  I  drive  without  bearing-rein  or 
blinkers.  This  latter  plan  requires  great  care  until 
your  horse  is  accustomed  to  it. 

1 1  will  not  intrude  longer  upon  your  time,  but 
should  any  person  wish  to  question  me,  I  shall  be 
very  pleased  to  reply  to  them. 

'  Yours  truly, 

'Herbert  Smith.' 

Taking  Mr.  Smith  at  his  word,  the  late  Mr.  A.  F. 
Astley  wrote  to  ask  him  if  he  would  let  him  have 


HARDENING   THE   HOOF.  187 

some  details  concerning  the  mode  which  he  adopted 
in  fitting  the  hoofs  of  his  horse  for  road  work.  He 
was  kind  enough  to  send  at  once  the  following 
answer,  dated  June  9,  1882: — 

1  My  horse  had  worn  a  set  of  shoes  for  about 
three  weeks  when  I  had  them  taken  off  without  pre- 
paring his  foot  in  any  way,  and  he  was  left  unshod 
at  once  (no  tips). 

'  For  the  first  four  or  five  days  he  stood  in  his 
horse  box,  only  littered  down  at  night ;  all  litter  was 
taken  away  during  the  daytime,  and  all  refuse  cleared 
up  as  soon  as  made,  so  as  to  prevent  his  hoof  being 
softened  by  standing  in  it. 

'For  the  following  week  or  ten  days  he  was 
loose  in  a  paved  stable  yard,  to  stand  or  move  about 
as  he  chose.  He  was  then  led  out  on  the  turnpike 
road  (not  the  turf)  daily,  at  first  for  only  three  or 
four  hundred  yards,  the  distance  being  gradually 
increased.  As  he  travelled  better,  he  was  mounted 
or  driven  in  a  trap,  but  for  some  time  restricted  to  a 
walk. 

'  In  about  three  months  I  began  to  trot  him  for 
short  distances,  and  thus  he  was  gradually  able  to 
undertake  his  ordinary  work.  I  do  not  think  his 
action  is  so  high  as  when  shod,  but  he  is  more  sure- 
footed, pleasanter  to  drive,  and  has  a  healthier  hoof 
than  before.     He  appears  not  to  travel  so  fast  as  he 


188  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

did,  but  this  is  only  in  appearance,  for  on  timing 
him  I  find  he  is  fully  as  quick  on  his  journeys. 

'  His  hoofs  assumed  a  very  ridiculous  shape  while 
attaining  their  present  form,  the  coronet  at  one  time 
projecting  like  a  moulding  above  the  lower  crust  (or 
wall).  The  crust  of  the  hoof  has  only  cracked  where 
the  old  nail-holes  had  injured  it,  and  as  they  wear 
away  it  becomes  sound  and  hard.     (See  page  107.) 

1  The  whole  of  the  tenderness  of  the  foot  had 
proceeded  from  pressure  on  the  frog.  Only  once 
was  there  a  suspicion  of  its  being  worn  tender,  and 
if  it  really  were  so  on  that  occasion,  a  single  day's 
rest  in  the  stable  cured  it.  Of  course  his  feet  were 
well  washed,  and  I  examined  them  myself  each  day 
on  his  return  from  exercise.' 

In  this  exceedingly  valuable  account,  the  atten- 
tion of  the  reader  must  be  drawn  to  one  or  two 
points. 

One  of  them  is,  that  the  owner  of  the  horse 
ought  not  to  be  discouraged  even  by  such  an  unex- 
pected phenomenon  as  an  altered  shape  of  the  hoof. 
Another,  that  although  of  course  it  would  be  better 
for  a  horse  never  to  have  been  shod,  provided  that 
its  hoofs  were  rightly  treated,  the  fact  that  it  had 
been  accustomed  to  wear  shoes  does  not  prohibit  it 
from  doing  without  them.  A  third  point  has  to  be 
noticed — namely,  the  loss  of  the  animal's  service  for 


XENOrilON's   ADVICE.  189 

some  months;  and  a  fourth  is  the  extremely  judicious 
character  of  the  means  which  were  employed. 

Let  us  take  the  very  important  subject  of  the 
loss  of  services,  so  that  the  horse  is  '  eating  his  head 
off'  while  his  hoofs  are  hardening.  Few  owners  of 
horses  can  afford  to  keep  the  auimal  idle,  and  there 
is  not  the  least  necessity  for  it. 

The  simplest  plan  is  to  wait  until  the  time  comes 
for  shoeing  the  horse,  and  to  substitute  a  Charlier 
half-shoe  for  that  which  was  removed.  Then,  as  has 
already  been  mentioned,  if  the  size  of  the  Charlier  be 
reduced  each  time  of  shoeing,  the  horn  will  have 
become  so  strong  and  hard,  that  the  small  tip  to 
which  the  shoe  will  be  reduced  about  the  third  or 
fourth  time  of  shoeing  may  be  removed  altogether, 
and  nothing  substituted  for  it. 

Next  we  come  to  the  means  which  were  employed 
in  this  particular  case.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  judicious,  and  any  one  who  follows  the  same 
plan  will  produce  the  same  result. 

The  plan,  however,  is  not  a  new  one.  It  was 
practised  and  recommended  nearly  2,300  years  ago 
by  Xenophon,  who,  as  the  reader  will  remember, 
was  not  only  a  historian,  but  an  acknowledged  au- 
thority on  horses  and  dogs,  and  the  general  who  con- 
ducted the  celebrated  retreat  of  the  Ten  Thousand. 
In  so  doing  he  was  obliged  to   organise  cavalry  as 


190  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

he  could,  taking  any  horses  on  which  he  could  lay 
his  hands.  That  most  trying  march  lay  over  all 
kinds  of  soils,  and  in  order  to  enable  the  hoofs  of 
the  horses  on  which  so  much  depended  to  endure 
such  an  ordeal,  he  laid  down  the  following  rules : — 

'To  prevent  stable  floors  from  being  smooth,  they 
should  have  stones  similar  to  a  horse's  hoofs  in  size 
inserted  in  the  ground,  for  such  stable  floors  give 
firmness  to  the  feet  of  horses  that  stand  on  them. 

*  The  groom  must  also  lead  the  horse  out  of  the 
stable  to  the  place  where  he  is  to  comb  him ;  and 
he  should  be  tied  away  from  the  manger  after  his 
morning's  feed,  that  he  may  come  to  his  evening's 
meal  with  the  greater  appetite. 

'  The  ground  outside  the  stable  may  be  put  into 
excellent  condition,  and  serve  to  strengthen  the 
horse's  feet,  if  a  man  lays  down  here  and  there  four 
or  five  loads  of  round  stones,  each  large  enough  to 
fill  the  two  hands,  and  weighing  about  a  pound, 
surrounding  them  with  an  iron  rim,  so  that  they 
may  not  be  scattered.  For,  as  the  horse  stands  on 
these,  he  will  be  in  much  the  same  condition  as  if  he 
were  to  travel  part  of  every  day  on  a  stony  road. 

'  A  horse  must  also  move  his  hoofs  while  he  is 
being  rubbed  down,  or  when  he  is  annoyed  with 
flies,  as  much  as  when  he  is  walking,  and  the  stones 
which    are   thus  spread  about  strengthen  the   frog 


HOME    OF   THE    HORSE.  191 

of  the  feet.' — (Xenophon's  '  Hipparcliicus,'  i.e.  Horse- 
mansliip,  ch.  iv.  par.  3,  4,  5.     Watson's  translation.) 

Let  us  now  try  to  act  as  a  judge  acts  in  summing 
up  a  case  at  law  when  there  is  conflicting  evidence. 
He  distinguishes  between  facts  and  surmises,  refusing 
to  allow  the  latter  to  appear  as  evidence.  In  the 
case  of  actual  evidence  differing,  he  impartially  con- 
siders both  sides,  and  delivers  his  judgment  according 
to  the  value  and  weight  of  evidence. 

The  first  and  chief  argument  in  favour  of  the 
iron  shoe  is,  that  the  horse  was  intended  for  soft  soil, 
and  not  to  wear  out  his  hoofs  by  carrying  heavy 
weights  or  by  drawing  heavy  carriages.  Also,  that 
as  we  use  hard  and  artificial  roads,  the  horse's  hoofs 
need  artificial  protection. 

Per  contra,  it  is  urged  that  these  statements  are 
mere  assumptions,  both  of  which  can  be  contra- 
dicted. 

In  the  first  place,  the  original  home  of  the  horse 
is  in  Central  Asia,  where  the  soil  is  hard  and  rocky. 
In  the  next  place,  the  worst  of  our  artificial  roads 
is  far  easier  for  the  hoof  than  the  broken  ground 
which  the  wild  horse  traverses.  In  the  next  place, 
it  has  been  proved,  and  is  an  existing  fact,  that 
unshod  horses  can  do  regular  and  hard  work  whether 
they  carry  a  heavy  rider  or  whether  they  draw  a 


192  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

heavy  carriage,  and  that   they  can  work  upon  the 
roughest,  hardest,  and  most  trying  roads  in  England. 

It  is  said  that  because  a  horse  goes  lame  if  he 
casts  a  shoe,  the  necessity  for  shoes  is  proved. 

Not  at  all.  If  the  hoof  were  left  uninjured  by 
the  shoe  and  its  adjuncts,  such  a  theory  might  be 
tenable.  But  if,  in  order  to  put  on  the  shoe,  the 
farrier  weakens  the  hoof  with  his  knife,  rasp,  and 
nails,  the  argument  fails  to  the  ground. 

It  is  said  that  some  horses  which  were  worked 
unshod  went  lame. 

Very  likely  they  dil,  but  not  if  the  hoof  had  been 
allowed  to  harden  to  its  natural  consistency.  Mr. 
Astley,  for  example,  failed  at  first  with  his  horse 
'Tommy,'  and  was  on  the  point  of  giving  up  the 
experiment  in  despair.  But  the  fault  lay  not  with 
the  horse  or  the  hoof,  but  with  the  owner,  who  was 
too  impatient,  and  did  not  give  the  artificially 
weakened  hoofs  sufficient  time  to  harden.  As  the 
reader  may  remember,  the  experiment  did  finally 
succeed,  although  the  hoofs  were  in  a  very  enfeebled 
state  when  the  shoes  were  first  removed. 

Do  shod  horses  never  go  lame  ?  And  when  they 
do,  it  can  scarcely  be  accepted  as  a  proof  that  every 
horse  must  have  its  shoes  pulled  off.  Neither,  when 
a  barefooted  horse  goes  lame,  is  it  a  proof  that  every 
horse  ought  to  be  shod.     Moreover,  there  are  many 


OVERGROWN   HOOFS.  193 

living  examples  of  horses  which  are  always  lame 
when  shod,  and  always  go  sound  as  soon  as  the  shoes 
are  removed. 

In  a  letter  dated  January  14,  1882,  Mr.  A.  F. 
Astley  sent  me  a  piece  of  information  which  is  worth 
recording  ; — 

1 A  'bus  driver  with  whom  I  went  yesterday 
made  some  striking  statements  incident  to  the  shoe 
question. 

*  He  was  still  a  young  man,  and  had  been  in  a 
cavalry  regiment,  where  he  had  the  charge  of  a  very 
vicious  mare.  Shoes  seemed  to  be  her  aversion,  and 
she  would  kick  and  kick  until  she  got  them  off  or 
loosened  them.  She  once  did  this  on  the  march,  but 
though  with  her  feet  unprepared  for  road  work,  she 
completed  her  march  without  shoes.' 

Mr.  Astley  also  sent  me  a  few  lines  which 
effectually  dispose  of  the  theory  that  the  horse  was 
intended  to  live  on  soft  ground  : — 

1  Yesterday  I  was  taught  much  !  A  roan,  never 
shod,  three  years  old,  having  been  advertised  in  the 
"  Bazaar,"  I  went  down  to  see  him. 

'  There  could  not  be  a  more  striking  proof  that 
hard  ground  is  wanted  to  keep  the  hoof  in  form.  This 
colt  had  been  kept  in  a  grass  field  —  a  dry  one — and 
his  hoofs  had  grown  very  long  and  out  of  all  form. 
In  this  weakened  state  he  had  got  out  of  the  field 

o 


194  HORSE    AND    MAN. 

and  galloped  on  the  road.     So  the  hoofs  are  cracked, 
and  the  cracks  have  extended.' 

The  reader  will  perceive  how  an  advocate  of  the 
iron  shoe  would  seize  on  this  fact  as  a  proof  that 
horses  must  be  shod  in  order  to  enable  them  to  carry 
on  their  work.  "Whereas,  if  the  horse  had  been  in 
the  hands  of  anyone  who  understood  the  anatomy 
of  the  hoof,  and  had  been  taken  over  a  few  miles  of 
hard  roads  daily,  it  might  have  traversed  all  the 
roads  in  England,  from  the  flats  of  Cambridge  and 
Essex  to  the  hills  of  Devon,  Stafford,  and  Derby- 
shire, and  have  possessed  better  hoofs  than  when  it 
started. 

My  vocation  as  lecturer  takes  me  over  all  kinds 
of  roads  in  all  parts  of  England  and  Scotland,  not  to 
mention  America,  though  I  cannot  say,  as  Dickens 
did,  that  I  have  been  upset  out  of  every  imaginable 
conveyance  that  goes  on  wheels.  Still,  I  do  happen 
to  possess  practical  knowledge  of  the  roads  of 
Devonshire,  Derbyshire,  and  Staffordshire,  all  of 
which  are  traversed  daily  by  unshod  horses  doing 
any  kind  of  work.  Here  is  an  account  of  the 
ordinary  roads  of  North  Staffordshire,  extracted 
from  the  '  Sporting  and  Dramatic  News,'  an  acknow- 
ledgedly  '  horsey  '  authority.  It  is  dated  August  9, 
1884,  and  signed  by  '  Eapier,'  whose  identity  is  well 
known  to  all  sporting  men : — 


STAFFORDSHIRE    ROADS.  195 

4  It  is  reserved  for  Staffordshire,  or  at  all  events 
North  Staffordshire,  to  be  distinguished  amongst  all 
other  counties  for  having  quite  the  worst  roads  in 
England.  I  do  not  think  I  am  far  out  in  saying 
that  they  never  bind  at  any  season  of  the  year. 

'  Possibly,  the  only  "  metal  "  that  is  to  be  obtained 
locally  consists  of  the  round  pebbles  (if  a  stone  which 
is  sometimes  nearly  a  foot  in  diameter  can  be  called 
a  pebble)  which  are  from  time  to  time  scattered  on 
the  roads.  But  I  should  have  thought  that  some- 
body  might  be  found  to  break  them  into  pieces. 
Being  round  and  smooth,  they  have,  of  course,  no 
sooner  worked  in  with  the  wear  of  the  traffic  than 
they  wear  out  again. 

'  The  moral  of  this  is  that  people  who  live  in 
Staffordshire  should  not  drive  delicately  built  car- 
riages. I  can  recommend,  however,  carriage  exercise 
in  this  neighbourhood  for  those  who  are  so  singu- 
larly  constituted  as  to  have  livers.' 

North  Staffordshire,  in  fact,  is  very  much  in  this 
country  what  New  Hampshire  (the  '  Granite  State ') 
is  in  America,  as  I  know  from  practical  experience 
in  both  localities.  Yet  an  unshod  horse  has  been 
driven  over  these  roads  without  suffering  any  injury 
to  the  hoof. 

There  is,  then,  only  one  merit  which  can  be  urged 
in  favour  of  the  iron  shoe,  namely,  that  of  protecting 

o  2 


196  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

the  hoof,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  there  is  abundant 
evidence  that  the  hoof  needs  no  such  protection. 

Now  we  will  take  the  opposite  side,  and  see  what 
can  be  urged  against  the  iron  shoe  nailed  on  the 
hoof. 

It  is  not  only  asserted  and  surmised,  but  proved, 
that  the  shoe  is  the  direct,  or  indirect  cause  of  every 
disease  to  which  the  hoof  is  liable.  It  causes  Corns, 
which  could  no  more  exist  in  the  hoof  of  a  shoeless 
horse  than  in  the  foot  of  an  Australian  savage  who 
never  saw  a  shoe  in  his  life.  The  shoe  causes 
laminitis,  quitters,  thrush,  and  navicular  disease,  all 
being  inflammatory  in  their  nature.  Contracted 
hoof,  greasy  heels,  and  sand-crack  are  equally 
attributable  to  the  shoe,  and  make  the  very  name  of 
farrier  a  terror  to  all  who  care  for  the  welfare  of 
their  horses. 

Then,  the  unpleasant  habits  of  cutting,  brushing, 
interfering,  and  clicking  cannot  be  contracted  by 
horses  which  do  not  wear  shoes.  The  profession  is 
so  well  aware  that  these  faults  are  clue  to  the  shoe, 
that  a  whole  class  of  shoes  has  been  constructed, 
each  of  which  was  supposed  to  have  the  merit  of 
obviating  one  or  other  of  these  defects. 

I  do  not  make  any  of  these  statements  on  my 
own  very  feeble  authority.  Every  one  of  them  is  to 
be  found  in  such  writers  as  Fleming,  Mayhew,  Lupton, 


PROFESSIONAL    AUTHORITIES.  197 

Youatt,  Douglas,  Miles,  Bracy  Clarke,  Fearnley, 
Eansom,  Treacy,  Kendall,  &c.  Some  of  these  writers 
are  English  and  some  American,  and  their  works  are 
easy  of  access  in  any  good  public  library. 

Then,  the  perils  of  the  nail  have  to  be  considered, 
'  pricking  '  the  foot  always  causing  great  pain  and 
lameness,  and  sometimes  ending  in  the  death  of  the 
animal. 

The  pecuniary  saving  of  abandoning  the  shoe 
I  do  not  take  into  consideration,  neither  the  cost  of 
veterinary  attendance  on  horses  which  have  been 
injured  by  the  farrier.  The  saving  is  of  course  con- 
siderable, but  my  dealings  are  with  the  welfare  of 
the  horse,  and  not  with  the  pockets  of  the  owner. 

In  concluding  this  portion  of  the  work,  I  only 
again  ask  the  reader  to  balance  the  weight  of  actual 
evidence  on  both  sides  of  the  question,  to  discharge 
from  his  mind  all  prejudices,  and  to  deliver  his  judg- 
ment as  impartially  as  if  he  were  a  judge  acting  in 
a  court  of  law. 


198  HOKSE   AND   MAN. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Professional  Eye — Fashion  and  nature — The  curb — Weight  and  size 
of  bit — The  bearing-rein — Three  kinds  of  hearing-rein — The  gag 
bearing-rein — Mechanical  parallel — The  over-head  rein — Neck  of  the 
horse — Great  ligament  of  the  neck  and  its  attachments — Vertebrae  of 
neck  and  spine — Vertebrae  and  railway  buffers — Arrangement  of  a 
train — The  marting-ale — Rattling  of  harness  and  tossing  of  heads — 
Sir  Arthur  Helps'  opinion — Effect  of  the  gag  hearing-rein  on  the 
spine  and  feet — The  '  burr  '  bit  of  America — Mr.  Henry  Bergh's  work 
— The  locomotive  and  the  horse. 

What  a  wonderful  product  of  civilisation  is  the 
Professional  Eye !  It  begins  to  develop  itself  as  soon 
as  man  emerges  from  pure  savagery,  contenting  itself 
at  first  with  the  nose  bone  of  the  Australian,  the 
lip-disc  of  the  Botocudo,  and  the  tattooing  of  the 
Marquesan  and  New  Zealand  chief.  It  rests  with 
satisfaction  upon  the  vagaries  of  fashion,  upon  the 
furnishing  of  our  houses,  and  the  decoration  of  our 
gardens.  Therefore,  that  our  horses  should  be  sub  - 
ject  to  its  sway  is  only  to  be  expected. 

A  few  years  ago,  I  met  with  a  treatise  on  the 
management  of  horses,  in  which  the  writer  gives  it 
as  his  opinion  that  a  thoroughbred  horse,  properly 
harnessed,  is   the    finest    sight  in  the  world.     This 


HARNESS.  199 

statement  is  illustrated  with  a  figure  of  a  '  properly 
harnessed  '  horse.  To  my  very  unprofessional  eye 
the  horse  would  have  been  a  much  finer  sight  with- 
out the  harness,  which,  in  fact,  becomes  in  the 
illustration  the  primary  object,  the  horse  enclosed 
within  it  being  of  secondary  consideration. 

There  are  blinkers  to  prevent  the  horse  from 
using  its  eyes.  There  is  a  '  gag '  bearing-rein  to 
prevent  the  animal  from  putting  its  head  down, 
and  a  martingale  to  prevent  it  from  throwing  its 
head  back,  and  there  is  a  long-cheeked  curb  bit, 
together  with  its  corresponding  chain.  Every  one 
of  these  appliances  is  not  only  useless,  but  actually 
injurious  to  the  horse,  lessening  its  powers  of  work. 
and  wearing  it  out  long  before  its  time.  By  way 
of  a  contrast,  I  here  give  two  figures,  copied  (with 
a  few  slight  additions),  by  permission  from  the  late 
Mr.  E.  Fordham  Flower's  valuable  pamphlet  entitled 
1  Bits  and  Bearing-reins.'  The  reader  would  hardly 
imagine — I  did  not  do  so  until  told  by  Mr.  Flower 
himself — that  the  figures  are  facsimiles  of  the  photo- 
graphs of  the  same  horse !  One  represents  the 
animal  as  it  appeared  when  purchased  by  Mr.  Flower, 
and  hampered  by  improper  harness,  and  the  other 
represents  it  as  it  appeared  when  driven  by  Mr. 
Flower  a  few  weeks  after  purchase. 

Of  this  animal  Mr.  Flower  writes  as  follows : — 


200 


HORSE   AND   MAN. 


'  A  few  years  ago  I  bought  a  fine  horse  with  a 
bad  character — he  was  a  rearer,  a  jibber,  a  bolter — ■ 
and  the  late  coachman  told  me  I  should  never  be 
able  to  drive  him.     But  I  liked  his  looks,  and   the 


'  FASHION.' 

[The  attitude  and  harness  of  this  figure  are  copied  from  a  photograph  of 
Mr.  E.  F.  Flower's  horse  as  it  appeared  when  he  hought  it.  The 
ears,  mane,  and  tail  are  explained  in  the  text.] 


result  confirmed  my  good  opinion.'    How  Mr.  Flower 
wrought  this  change  we  shall  now  see. 
We  will  first  look  at  the  bit. 


ME.    FLOWER'S    HORSE. 


201 


The  amount  of  iron  which  is  too  often  used  in 
a  bit  is  almost  incredible.  On  the  next  page  is  a 
figure  of  the  bit  which  was  worn  by  Mr.  Flower's 
horse   when   he   purchased  it,  and  which  was  pro- 


'  NATURE.' 


[This  is  from  a  photograph  of  the  horse  '  Fashion  '  as  it  appeared  after 
Mr.  Flower  had  possessed  it  for  a  few  weeks.] 


nounced  necessary  in  order  to  subdue  its  bad  temper, 
and  prevent  it  from  running  away.  The  machine 
weighed  two  pounds  all  but  two  ounces,  and  it 
seems  almost  incredible    that  such  a  piece  of  iron- 


202 


HORSE   AND    MAN. 


work  should  be  forced  into  the  delicate  mouth  of  the 
horse,  but  I  have  seen  and  handled  it  repeatedly. 

Such  a  machine  may,  indeed,  coerce  the  horse  to 
a  certain  extent,  just  as  is  the  case  with  the  terrible 
Spanish  bits,  which  are  powerful  enough  to  smash 
the  jaw  of  the  animal.  But  the  horse  was  never 
meant  to  be  coerced,  but  to  be  the  willing  servant 
of  man  ;  and  there  is,  in  every  high- 
spirited  horse,  a  point  at  which 
coercion  loses  its  power,  and  the 
horse,  despite  the  pain  inflicted  up- 
on it,  becomes  a  rebel.  How  often 
do  we  not  hear  the  warning  given, 
*  He  goes  quietly  on  the  snaffle,  but 
if  you  touch  the  curb,  look  out 
kemoved   by  mr.     for    squalls.'    The  moral    of  which 

"FLOWER. 

ought  to  be,  that  the  curb  should 
not  be  used  at  all. 

A  year  or  two  ago  I  was  accompanying  a  lady 
in  her  carriage,  which,  as  the  day  was  wet,  was 
a  closed  one.  The  movement  of  the  carriage  was 
anything  but  smooth,  and  at  last  became  so  jerky 
that  the  lady  asked  me  what  could  be  the  matter. 
Being  thus  appealed  to,  I  said  that  I  was  sure  that 
the  off  horse  was  curbed  up  too  tightly,  and  that  the 
irregularity  would  continue  until  the  animal  was  re- 
leased from  the  curb. 


THE   BIT   "WHICH    WAS 


EFFECT   OF   THE    CUEB.  203 

She  immediately  stopped  the  carriage  and  went 
to  the  horses'  heads.  The  near  horse  was  all  right, 
but  the  curb-chain  of  the  off  horse  was  drawn  so 
tightly  that  it  actually  sank  into  the  skin  of  the 
lower  jaw.  It  was  so  tight  that  she  could  hardly 
unloose  it.  On  her  inquiry,  the  coachman — a  new 
one — said  that  the  horse  was  so  restive,  and  given 
to  bolting,  that  he  was  afraid  to  drive  it  except  with 
a  tight  curb. 

However,  to  his  amazement,  the  lady  not  only 
loosened  the  curb,  but  took  it  off,  and  put  it  in  her 
pocket,  so  that  it  could  not  be  replaced.  Then  she 
shifted  the  reins  to  the  snaffle  rings,  and  returned 
to  the  carriage.  The  horse  shook  his  head  three 
or  four  times,  as  if  to  assure  himself  that  he  was 
relieved  from  the  curb,  and  then  went  off  with  per- 
fect ease  and  smoothness. 

I  had  a  talk  with  the  coachman  afterwards,  and 
found,  as  I  had  surmised,  that  the  man  had  only 
followed  the  traditions  of  his  order,  and  thought  that 
a  high-spirited  horse  must  be  a  vicious  one.  He  was 
entirely  surprised  at  the  result  of  his  mistress's  action, 
and  when  she  took  her  place  in  the  carriage  after 
removing  the  curb,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  be  pre- 
pared for  an  accident. 

I  am  sure  that  the  lady  in  question  will  pardon 
me   for   recording    this    historiette,   because    it   re- 


204  HOKSE   AND   MAN. 

doimds  very  much  to  her  credit,  and  I  mention 
no  names. 

I  feel  quite  certain  that  we  do  not  realise  the 
horrible  pain  which  is  given  to  horses  by  these  enor- 
mous and  weighty  bits. 

The  reader  will  remember  that  the  two  portraits 
on  pp.  200  and  201  were  taken  from  the  same  horse. 
That  on  p.  201  was  taken  first,  so  as  to  show  his 
appearance  when  driven  with  a  simple  snaffle.  After 
this  portrait  was  taken,  the  harness  was  removed, 
so  that  the  horse  might  be  shown  as  he  was  when 
Mr.  Flower  bought  him. 

No  sooner  did  the  animal  see  the  groom  approach 
with  the  old  bit  and  curb  than  he  began  to  tremble, 
and  burst  out  into  a  profuse  perspiration  from  ab- 
solute terror.  The  effect  upon  the  horse  was  so 
great  that  Mr.  Flower  could  scarcely  bring  him- 
self to  order  the  bit  and  harness  to  be  placed  upon 
him. 

The  reader  may  perhaps  think  that  this  bit  is  an 
exceptional  one,  and  made  especially  for  that  horse. 
I  only  wish  it  were  so.  As  I  write  these  words,  Septem- 
ber 1884,  there  is  in  the  Crystal  Palace  an  Inter- 
national Exhibition  of  Arts  and  Manufactures,  and 
among  the  various  stalls  are  several  which  are  devoted 
to  harness,  and  in  which  may  be  seen  bits  which  are 


TUE    BEARING-REIN.  205 

even  more  ponderous  than  that  which  caused  such 
torture  to  Mr.  Flower's  horse. 

There  is  another  point  to  be  considered  with 
regard  to  these  heavy  bits,  and  that  is,  the  pain  which 
the  cold  iron  causes  to  the  animal  in  the  winter  time 
when  the  bit  is  first  put  into  its  mouth.  Even  in 
ordinary  weather  the  contact  of  cold  iron  with  the 
teeth  will  cause  pain,  but  in  the  winter  time  it  must 
be  absolute  torture. 

All  these  bits  and  curbs  are  visible  proofs  that  as 
a  rule  those  who  ride  or  drive,  and  especially  the 
latter,  seem  to  think  that  the  object  of  the  bit  is  to 
coerce  the  animal,  whereas  its  right  object  is  to  guide 
it.  A  horse  which  has  been  trained  to  act  as  a  ser- 
vant and  not  an  unwilling  slave,  does  not  need  to  have 
his  jaws  dragged  this  way  and  that.  All  that  he  re- 
quires is  that  his  master  should  let  him  know  what  is 
wanted  of  him,  and  he  will  be  only  too  glad  to  obey. 
We  shall  revert  to  this  branch  of  the  subject  on  a 
future  page. 

THE   BEARING -REIN. 

Cruel  as  may  be  the  bits  which  I  have  mentioned, 
they  are  but  trifles  until  they  are  combined  with  the 
Bearing-rein,  an  invention   by  means  of  which  the 


206  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

lightest  snaffle  may  be  transformed  into  an  instrument 
of  torture.  In  America  it  receives  the  more  appro- 
priate title  of  the  '  check  rein.' 

Originally,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  bearing- 
rein  was  intended  for  purposes  of  show,  so  as  to  hold 
up  the  horse's  head,  and  give  him  an  appearance  of 
being  a  horse  of  spirit. 

The  custom  is  of  very  great  antiquity,  as  is  shown 
by  the  ancient  Egyptian  monuments.  There  we  see 
Pharaoh  represented  as  standing  in  his  chariot  of 
state,  guiding  his  armies  to  conquest,  and  receiving 
the  homage  and  tribute  of  the  vanquished.  The 
horses  are  fitted  with  driving-reins  and  bearing-reins, 
the  latter  being  hooked  to  the  saddle  exactly  like 
ours  of  the  present  day. 

The  sculptor  has  hit  off  with  curious  fidelity  the 
peculiar  action  of  a  horse  thus  trammelled,  and 
marked  strongly  the  distinction  between  the  harnessed 
horses  of  state  and  those  which  are  ridden  by  the 
combatants  and  have  their  necks  free. 

Two  kinds  of  bearing-reins  are  employed  in  this 
country,  and  a  third  is  largely  used  in  America. 

First  we  have  the  ordinary  bearing-reins,  which 
are  fastened  to  the  cheeks  of  the  bit,  then  pass 
through  a  couple  of  drop-rings,  one  on  each  side  of 
the  head,  and  are  finally  hitched  over  a  hook  or  peg 
which  is  fastened  to  the  saddle.     There  is  just  one 


THE   '  GAG  '   OR    '  BEDOUIN  '    BEARING-REIN.        207 

advantage  which  this  rein  possesses — namely,  that 
when  the  horse  is  at  rest,  or  when  it  is  ascending  a 
steep  hill,  the  driver  can  unhitch  it. 

The  other  invention  is  sometimes  called  the 
*  Bedouin'  and  sometimes  the  '  Ga^.'  The  latter  is 
far  more  appropriate  than  the  former,  as  no  Bedouin, 
even  if  he  uses  a  cruelly  powerful  bit,  and  will  wrench 
the  animal's  jaw  severely  in  executing  the  various 
feats  of  horsemanship  in  which  those  Arabs  take  a 
pride,  ever  invented  such  a  piece  of  machinery  as  the 
Gag  bearing-rein. 

The  accompanying  illustration  is  copied  by  per- 
mission from  the  work  to  which  reference  has  been 
made.     The  original  was  taken  from  a  photograph. 

In  the  first  place,  this  rein  is  quite  independent 
of  the  driving  bit,  and  has  a  bit  of  its  own.  The 
rein  is  first  attached  to  the  head- stall,  as  seen  at  D. 
Then  it  goes  through  a  swivel  attached  to  its  own 
bit,  as  is  shown  at  c.  Thence  it  passes  through  the 
drop-ring  at  B,  and  then  is  hitched  over  the  hook 
attached  to  the  saddle  at  A. 

Now  let  us  see  what  is  the  effect  on  the  horse. 

The  small  diagram  which  is  appended  to  the 
figure  shows  this  rein  as  reduced  to  its  mechanical 
equivalent,  and  has  the  same  letters.  When  a  rope, 
weights,  and  pulleys  are  arranged  as  seen  in  the 
diagram,  a  force  which  is  represented  by  one  pound 


208 


HORSE    AND    MAN. 


at  A  will  exactly  balance  a  weight  of  two  pounds  at 
c,  so  that  its  power  is  doubled.  Now,  in  the  Gag 
bearing-rein  the  power  is  represented  by  the  hook  on 
the  saddle,  which,  by  the  way,  is  fastened  to  the  tail 
by  a  crupper.     B  is  the  fixed,  and  c  the  movable 


'  BEDOUIN,'   OR   '  GAG,'   BEAEING-KETN. 

(From  Mr.  E.  F.  Flower's  book.) 

pulley,  while  d  is  the  fixed  end  of  the  rope.  Conse- 
quently the  force  of  the  rein  at  a  is  exactly  doubled 
at  the  horse's  mouth  or  c. 

Unlike  the  simple  bearing-rein,  this  machine  can- 
not be  unhitched  in  order  to  release  the  tension  of  the 
neck,  as  the  bit  is  quite  independent  of  the  driving 


THE    OVER-HEAD   BEARING-REIN.  209 

bit,  and  would  fall  out  of  the  horse's  mouth  when  the 
rein  was  unhitched. 

How  this  bit  is  applied  may  be  seen  from  the 
following  extract  from  Sidney's  '  Book  of  the  Horse : ' 

'  Your  London  coachman  of  the  highest  fashion 
begins  by  drawing  up  the  gag  bit  until  he  has  enlarged 
the  mouth  by  at  least  a  couple  of  inches.  He  then 
adds  a  curb-bit  of  an  inch  too  wide  and  four  inches 
too  long,  quite  regardless  of  the  size  of  the  horse's 
mouth,  and  having  curbed  this  up  tight,  climbs  on 
his  box  and  makes,  whether  moving  or  standing  at  a 
door,  a  display  very  satisfactory  to  the  distinguished 
owners,  who  have  not  the  least  idea  that  their  horses 
are  enduring  agonies  for  hours. 

'  The  result  is  shown  by  degrees  in  foaming, 
bleeding  mouths,  lolling  tongues,  spasms,  restiveness, 
&c.'  In  other  w^ords,  the  horses  are  the  victims  of 
the  professional  eye. 

The  third  kind  of  bearing-rein  I  have  often  seen 
in  America,  but  never  in  England,  and  hope  never  to 
do  so.  Instead  of  the  rein  passing  along  each  side  of 
the  head  through  a  drop  ring,  it  passes  over  the  top 
of  the  head,  and  then  directly  to  the  saddle  hook. 
For  this  reason  it  is  called  the  '  over-head  check-rein.' 

I  have  already  said  that  the  primary  object  of 
the  bearing-rein  was  to  give  the  horse  a  more  spirited 
appearance.     But  two  other  reasons  are  invariably 

P 


210  HORSE    AND    MAN. 

brought  forward  where  objections  are  made  to  its 
use.  One  is,  that  it  keeps  the  horse  on  its  feet  and 
saves  it  from  falling  and  breaking  its  knees ;  and  the 
second  is,  that  it  prevents  the  horse  from  running 
away.  We  will  take  these  three  'reasons'  separately, 
but  will  first  describe  some  more  of  the  mechanism 
of  the  neck  and  backbone. 

As  the  reader  may  remember,  all  the  parts  of  an 
animal  are  mutually  dependent  on  each  other,  and 
any  interference  with  one  of  them  will  exercise  an 
injurious  influence  on  all  the  others. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  elasticity  is 
one  of  the  leading  characteristics  on  which  the 
structure  of  the  horse  is  framed.  How  wonderfully 
elastic  is  the  hoof  in  its  natural  state,  and  how  the 
horse  is  injured  by  destroying  that  elasticity,  has 
been  already  shown.  Now  it  is  evident  that  an 
elastic  hoof  would  be  useless  if  the  body  were  rigid, 
and  therefore,  as  might  be  inferred  from  the  hoof,  the 
neck  and  backbone  combine  elasticity  and  strength 
in  a  most  wonderful  manner. 

This  is  not  intended  to  be  an  anatomical  work, 
and  therefore  I  only  give  those  details  which  bear 
immediately  on  the  subject. 

If  the  reader  will  refer  to  the  illustration  which 
represents  the  seven  vertebras  of  the  neck,  he  will 
see  that  they  are  furnished  with  various  projections. 


LIGAMENT   OP   THE    NECK. 


211 


Some  of  these  are  intended  for  the  attachments  of 
the  wonderful  piece  of  mechanism  which  is  here 
shown. 

We  all  know  that  at  the  back  of  the  human  neck 


LIGAMENT   OP   THE   NECK   AND   ITS   BRANCHES. 


there  is  a  strong  ligament  called  scientifically  '  liga- 
mentum  nuchas.'  In  the  language  of  the  butcher  it 
is  termed  the  pax-wax.  With  man,  the  weight  of 
whose  head  is  perpendicular,  the  ligament  is,  though 
strong,    comparatively    small    and    simple,    and    not 

p  2 


212 


HOUSE   AND    MAN. 


intended  to  sustain  the  head  in  a  horizontal  position. 
This  we  can  realise  if  we  have  dropped  some  small 
object  and  have  been  hunting  for  it  on  our  hands 
and  knees. 

The  horse,  however,  needs  a  m  ch  more  elaborate 
ligament.  At  a  is  the  upper  and  rounded  portion  which 
is  attached  to  the  head.  Widening  and  thickening 
as  it  passes  away  from  the  head,  it  reaches  the  upper 
processes  of  several  vertebras  of  the  back.  In  addition 
it  sends  out  a  series  of  branches  which  are  attached 
to  the  vertebras  of  the  neck,  as  shown  at  B. 

Still  carrying  on  the  train  of  reasoning,  an  elastic 
hoof  and    neck  would  be   useless  if  the  remaining 


J-ig.2. 


VERTEBRAE   AND   LIGAMENTS. 


portion  of  the  spine  were  rigid,  and  so  we  find  that 
the  elasticity  of  the  neck  is  carried  through  the  rest 
of  the  spine.     In  the  illustration  we  have  seen  how 


VERTEBRAE    AND    LIGAMENTS.  213 

the  ligament  of  the  neck  is  attached  to  the  vertebra? 
of  the  back.  The  preceding  illustration  takes  the  four 
vertebra?  next  in  order.  Fig.  1  shows  how  the  verte- 
bra? are  connected  by  ligaments,  one  set  running  above 
and  the  other  below,  as  seen  at  A  and  c  ;  fig.  2  gives 
the  front  view  of  the  tenth  vertebra,  and  shows  at  B 
the  hole  through  which  the  spinal  cord  passes,  and 
on  the  floor  of  which  rests  another  ligament.  Fi<*.  3 
is  a  diagrammatic  representation  of  the  vertebra? 
curved  in  action. 

There  is  yet  another  provision  to  ensure  the 
requisite  elasticity.  At  each  end  of  the  *  body  '  of 
the  vertebra  there  is  a  thick,  rounded,  and  very 
elastic  pad  of  cartilage,  as  may  be  seen  diaoram- 
matically  shown  at  fig.  2  of  the  illustration  on 
page  214.  At  a,  the  vertebra?  are  shown  in  their 
natural  position,  the  elastic  pads  being  in  contact, 
and  held  together  by  the  ligaments  which  have  been 
described.  At  b  b  they  are  represented  as  compressed 
to  the  utmost,  so  that  their  elasticity  is  practically 
annulled. 

At  fig.  1  is  given  a  diagrammatic  sketch  showing 
the  analogy  between  the  chain  of  vertebra?  and  the 
present  mode  of  coupling  railway  carriages. 

When  I  used  to  go  to  school,  in  the  days  when 
railways  were  almost  in  their  infancy,  second-class 
carriages  having  only  two  ends  and  a  roof  but  no 


214 


HORSE    AND    MAN. 


sides,  and  the  third-class  carriages  being  mere  wooden 
trays  without  seats,  the  system  of  coupling  was  in 
an  equally  primitive  state.  There  were  no  elastic 
buffers,  the  only  substitute  being  square  wooden 
blocks. 

The  consequence  was,  that  when  the  train  started, 
a  continuous  series  of  jerks  took  place,  each  car- 
riage jerking  forward  the  one  immediately  behind  it. 


Fig.3. 

VERTEBR2E   AND   RAILWAY   BUFFERS. 


When  the  engine  slackened  speed  before  stopping, 
a  corresponding  series  of  bangs  ran  through  the 
train,  each  carriage  being  banged  several  times  before 
it  stopped. 

This  arrangement  is  now  confined  to  goods 
trains,  and  is  not  likely  to  last,  as  even  with  them 
the  wear  and  tear  caused  by  this  jerking  and  banging 
are  very  expensive. 


SPRING    BUFFERS.  215 

Nowadays,  instead  of  the  solid  wooden  blocks, 
there  is  at  each  corner  of  the  carriage  a  spring 
buffer,  one  of  which  is  shown  in  a  section  at  fig.  3. 
When  the  carriages  are  coupled,  they  are  drawn 
together  by  double  screws,  so  that  the  buffers  are 
not  only  in  contact,  but  press  slightly  upon  the 
springs,  as  is  seen  at  a.  Thus,  the  train  becomes 
a  single  body,  instead  of  being  a  row  of  separate 
carriages,  and  a  good  driver  can  start  or  stop  the 
train  so  quietly,  that  the  passengers,  if  not  guided 
by  the  sense  of  sight,  can  scarcely  tell  when  they 
have  started  or  stopped. 

It  is  evident  that  if  any  of  the  carriages  were 
to  be  screwed  so  tightly  together  that  the  buffers 
were  forced  back  to  their  farthest  limits,  as  shown 
at  B,  the  elasticity  would  be  destroyed,  and  the 
buffers  rendered  useless. 

Now,  a  bearing-rein  of  any  kind  interferes  with 
the  wonderful  system  of  elastic  structures  which 
have  been  described.  Even  if  it  be  a  very  mild  one, 
it  hinders  the  play  of  the  vertebras  upon  each  other. 
The  horse's  head  being  tied  to  the  saddle  by  the 
bearing-rein,  and  the  saddle  being  fastened  to  the 
tail  by  the  crupper,  the  horse's  head  is  practically 
tied  to  his  tail,  thus  interfering  with  the  elasticity 
which  demands  freedom  throughout  the  entire 
length. 


216  HORSE    AND    MAN". 

The  gag-rein,  however,  does  more,  and  forces 
the  vertebras  together,  like  the  overscrewed  buffers. 
If  the  reader  will  refer  to  the  figure  entitled 
'  Fashion,'  on  p.  200,  he  will  see  that  the  whole 
attitude  of  the  animal  is  quite  different  from  that  of 
the  horse  which  is  entitled  '  Nature.'  The  peculiar 
position  of  the  legs  requires  notice.  It  is  not  acci- 
dental, neither  is  it  peculiar  to  the  horse,  the  animal 
being  the  same  individual  as  '  Nature,'  though  under 
different  circumstances. 

The  fore-legs  are  pushed  out  in  front,  and  the 
hind  legs  extended  backwards,  while  the  middle  of 
the  spine,  below  the  saddle,  is  bent  downwards.  The 
reason  for  the  attitude  is  this  : — The  head  has  been 
drawn  back  so  far  by  the  bearing-rein,  that  the 
pressure  on  the  mouth  is  continuous,  and  its  force 
doubled  by  reason  of  the  mechanical  action  of  the 
rein.  In  order,  then,  to  relieve  the  mouth  as  much 
as  possible,  the  horse  instinctively  stretches  out  its 
legs,  and  compresses  the  pads  between  the  vertebra, 
so  as  to  shorten  the  spine,  and  thus  to  lessen  the 
pressure  on  the  mouth. 

In  most  cases,  although  the  head  cannot  be  bent 
downwards,  it  can  be  lifted  upwards,  but  the  coach- 
man who  drove  this  particular  animal  (which  after- 
wards went  quietly  in  a  snaffle,  as  in  '  Nature ')  was 
so  afraid  of  it,  that  he  fastened  its  head  down  with  a 


HEAD-TOSSING    AND    FOAM-FLINGING.  217 

martingale,  so  that  the  head  could  neither  be  moved 
up  nor  down. 

This,  of  course,  was  an  extreme  case,  and  there- 
fore was  selected  by  Mr.  Flower  as  a  '  shocking  ex- 
ample.' 

But  even  in  those  instances  where  the  martingale 
is  not  used,  the  torture  is  extreme,  as  is  shown  by 
the  action  of  the  horses.  Coachmen  and  grooms, 
who  are  essentially  possessors  of  the  professional  eye, 
have  a  rooted  idea  that  it  is  very  grand  to  have 
their  horses  tossing  their  heads  and  flinging  foam 
about. 

They  really  think  that  the  head-tossing  and  foam- 
flinging  are  marks  of  pride  and  spirit,  whereas  they 
denote  pain,  and  vain  attempts  at  alleviation.  The 
horse  finds  that  although  he  cannot  stoop  his  head 
forwards  without  a  severe  jerk  to  his  mouth,  he  can 
for  a  moment  relax  the  pressure  by  throwing  his 
head  upwards.  As  to  the  foam,  it  is  caused  by  the 
pressure  of  the  severe  bit.  No  one  ever  saw  a  horse, 
however  spirited,  or  however  high  bred  it  may  be, 
toss  its  head  and  fling  foam  except  when  it  is  tortured 
by  the  bit  and  bearing-rein. 

Even  if  he  were  blind,  a  person  who  takes  an 
interest  in  this  subject  can  tell  by  his  ears  alone 
whether  horses  are  wearing  a  severe  bearing-rein. 
The   peculiar   rattling   of   the   head-harness,   which 


218  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

is  thought  so  grand  and  noble,  is  simply  produced 
by  the  attempts  of  the  horse  to  shake  the  bit  away 
from  the  tortured  corners  of  his  mouth. 

It  is  pitiful  in  the  '  season '  to  go  through  the 
Park,  or  to  pass  through  the  fashionable  streets  and 
squares,  and  to  see  the  sufferings  which  are  endured 
by  horses.  While  being  driven  round  the  Park, 
stopping  at  fashionable  shops,  exhibitions,  at  the 
doors  of  their  owners'  acquaintances,  or  even  at  the 
door  of  the  Eoyal  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Animals,  the  horses  may  be  seen  undergoing  this 
horrible  torture  for  hours  together. 

The  late  Sir  Arthur  Helps  put  the  point  very 
forcibly,  but  not  more  so  than  it  deserved.  He  lays 
the  fault  on  the  owner,  who  must  be  either  '  utterly 
unobservant  of  what  he  ought  to  know,  or  pompous, 
or  cruel.'  He  finishes  as  follows  : — '  I  observe  the 
equipages  when  the  irrational  tight  bearing-rein  is 
used.  I  then  look  on  the  arms  on  the  carriage,  and 
I  know  who  are  the  greatest  fools  in  London  in  the 
upper  classes.  The  bewigged  brute  and  idiot  of  a 
coachman  of  course  thinks  it  a  very  fine  thing  to  sit 
behind  these  poor  animals  with  their  stuck-up  heads; 
but  his  master  ought  to  know  better. 

6  So  ought  his  mistress.' 

I  have  often  wondered  to  see  ladies  sitting  in 
their  luxurious  carriages,  evidently  ignorant  of  the 


SILENT   SUFFERING.  219 

fact  that  the  incessant  tossing  of  head  and  rattling  of 
harness  are  sure  proofs  that  their  horses  are  suffer- 
ing from  ceaseless  pain.  A  dog  would  yelp  and  a 
cat  would  scream  if  such  pain  were  inflicted  upon  it, 
and  so  would  force  its  tortures  upon  the  ear  when 
the  eye  took  no  notice.  But  the  horse  neither  yelps 
nor  screams.  It  suffers  silently,  and  its  owner  is  too 
thoughtless  to  see  that  it  is  in  pain. 

As  to  the  white  foam  which  is  thought  to  be  the 
result  of  exuberant  spirit,  the  blood-stains  with 
which  it  is  often  flecked  ought  to  tell  their  own  story 
to  an  observant  eye,  even  though  the  spectator  knew 
nothing  of  the  habits  of  the  horse.  I  regret  to  say, 
however,  that  the  generality  of  carriage-owners  know 
nothing  of  their  horses,  but  consider  them  simply  as 
machines  which  pull  the  carriage,  and  leave  them 
wholly  to  the  servants. 

The  gag  bearing-rein  furnishes  another  example 
of  the  fact  that  interference  with  one  part  of  an 
animal  is  injurious  to  the  other  parts.  When  the 
horse  is  standing  with  its  legs  outstretched  and  its 
spine  contracted,  the  weight  of  the  body  rests  on 
the  heels  of  the  front  hoofs,  and  not  on  the  flat 
surface. 

Not  only  that,  but  the  horse,  in  addition  to  its 
weight,  is  exercising  a  muscular  pressure  on  the 
heel.     Thus,  as  was  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Darby,  the 


220  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

heel  becomes  inflamed  and  the  terrible  navicular 
disease  sets  in.  Besides,  the  abnormal  strain  upon 
the  tendons  is  so  great  that  they  give  way,  and  the 
horse  cannot  use  its  limbs  in  the  natural  manner. 

So  we  find  that  the  £ao;-rem,  which  interferes 
with  the  neck  and  spine,  also  injures  the  feet.  Now 
we  will  see  how  it  injures  some  of  the  internal  organs 
of  the  animal,  such  as  the  brain,  heart,  and  lungs,  and 
will  take  the  authority  of  Mr.  S.  Gill,  Y.S.,  as  quoted 
by  Mr.  Flower.  '  Members  of  the  veterinary  profes- 
sion are  by  no  means  ignorant  of  the  various  diseases 
produced  by  the  use  of  the  bearing  rein — roaring, 
apoplexy,  coma,  megrims,  inflammation,  and  soften- 
ing of  the  brain,  all  following  the  barbarous  use  of 
this  rein.' 

There  is  not  one  word  to  be  said  in  favour  of 
the  gag  bearing-rein.  No  one  even  pretends  to  aver 
that  the  gag-rein  serves  any  purpose  except  that  of 
show.  Its  only  object  is  to  hold  the  horse's  head  up 
higher  than  Nature  intended,  and  as  long  as  that 
purpose  is  served  the  driver  is  content. 

One  would  have  thought  that  such  a  machine  of 
torture  as  the  gag  bearing-rein  would  have  satisfied 
any  one,  but  in  America  an  addition  was  made  to  it 
in  the  form  of  the  '  Burr  '  bit.  Owing  mostly  to  the 
efforts  of  Mr.  Henry  Bergh,  of  New  York,  it  is  now 
very  seldom  if  ever  seen.     I  looked  out  carefully 


THE   BURR   BIT.  221 

during  my  six  months'  stay  in  the  country,  but  never 
saw  one.  So  I  take  the  account  from  an  American 
source,  in  an  article  entitled  '  Henry  Bergh  and  his 
Work,'  in  Scribners  Monthly  for  April  1879 : — 

*  The  coachmen  of  the  city,  mostly  without  the 
knowledge  of  their  employers,  began  using  a  round 
leather  bit-guard,  barbed  with  short  spikes,  so  that 
when  the  reins  were  tightened  the  nails  sunk  into 
the  side  of  the  horse's  head  and  made  the  animal 
exhibit  a  very  fashionable  degree  of  mettle.' 

The  reader  will  notice  that  the  Burr  was  mostly 
employed  by  the  coachman  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  owner.  But  the  owner  had  no  excuse  for 
such  culpable  ignorance.  Mr.  Bergh  could  discover 
it  and  insist  upon  its  removal,  and  if  he  could  do  so, 
a  fortiori  could  the  owner. 


222  HORSE   AND   MAN. 


CHAPTEE  Xm. 

The  bearing-rein  continued — The  locomotive  and  the  brake — Probation 
of  an  engine  driver — The  bearing-rein  and  the  break— Leading  reins 
converted  into  bearing-reins — Railway  companies  and  the  bearing- 
rein — Theories  as  to  the  bearing-rein — Its  supposed  use  in  preventing 
the  horse  from  falling — Bearing-reins  and  hills — Harness  in  Scotland 
— The  bearing-rein  in  Bristol — Mr.  Oracknell's  testimony — The 
bearing-rein  and  runaway  horses  —  A  grievous  experience  —  The 
shoulder  injured  by  the  bearing-rein — Testimony  of  more  than  a 
hundred  veterinary  surgeons — '  Roaring '  caused  by  the  bearing-rein 
— Mistaken  zeal — Summary — '  Tree  Lance's  '  check  for  a  runaway 
horse. 

If  we  can  imagine  the  driver  of  a  locomotive  engine 
putting  on  the  brakes  and  then  turning  on  full  steam, 
so  as  to  produce  plenty  of  puffing,  and  smoke,  and 
sparks,  and  thinking  that  he  was  'showing  off'  his 
engine  to  the  best  advantage,  we  should  set  him 
down  as  a  maniac,  or  at  the  best  an  ignorant  fool. 
Certain  it  is,  that  no  engine  owner  would  keep  the 
man  in  his  employ  for  five  minutes. 

Yet  the  coachman  who  uses  the  gag-rein  is  doing 
exactly  the  same  thing.  He  is  wasting  the  power  of 
the  horse  in  snorting,  and  foaming,  and  pawing,  and 
head- tossing,    while   preventing   him    from   drawing 


SHOWING    OFF   A    HORSE.  223 

with  his  weight  as  he  ought  to  do,  and  all  the  time 
is  under  the  impression  that  he  is  '  showing  off'  the 
animal.  The  fact  is,  that  just  as  fashionable  women 
dress  against  each  other,  so  do  fashionable  coachmen 
show  off  their  horses  against  each  other,  and  are 
afraid  of  each  other's  sneers. 

Abandoning  the  gag  bearing-rein  as  a  torture- 
giving  machine  invented  solely  to  minister  to  the  pride 
of  man,  and  without  the  least  shadow  of  excuse,  I  shall 
try  to  show  that  any  bearing-rein  is  doubly  injurious 
— firstly  to  the  horse,  and  secondly  to  its  owner. 

For  the  present,  I  shall  put  aside  the  question  of 
humanity,  and  consider  the  horse  simply  as  a  con- 
venient traction  engine. 

Every  one  will  concede  that  the  object  of  a  trac- 
tion engine  is  to  draw  its  load,  and  that  any  piece  of 
machinery  which  hinders  it  from  drawing  must  be 
injurious  to  it.  Moreover,  every  one  possessed  of 
common  sense  will  concede  that,  in  order  to  be  pro- 
fitable to  the  owner,  the  machine  should  be  made  to 
do  all  the  work  that  can  be  got  out  of  it,  and  that  it 
should  last  as  long  as  possible.  Lastly,  it  is  clear 
that  the  working  cost  should  be  reduced  to  the 
lowest  limit  consistent  with  the  proper  working  of 
the  machine  ;  in  other  words,  that  there  should  be 
no  waste  of  the  fuel  that  produces  the  power,  nor  of 
the  power  when  it  is  produced. 


224  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

Now,  when  we  have  to  deal  with  a  machine,  we 
take  care  that  all  these  conditions  shall  be  fulfilled. 
In  a  very  interesting  work  called  '  Engine-driving 
Life,'  there  is  a  most  curious  history  of  the  ordeals 
through  which  a  man  has  to  pass  even  before  he 
gains  his  certificate  as  a  fireman  or  '  stoker,'  *  an 
accomplishment  that  thousands  have  tried  at  and 
failed.'  The  book  is  of  especial  value  as  having  been 
written  by  Mr.  Michael  Eeynolds,  a  man  who  has 
gone  through  the  whole  of  the  ordeals  himself. 

There  we  learn  how  as  a  small  boy  he  begins  by 
being  sent  into  the  fire-box  to  take  out,  clean,  and 
replace  the  bars  and  polish  the  tube  plate — this  work 
often  being  done  at  a  temperature  of  250°.  When  he 
is  too  big  to  crawl  into  the  fire-box,  he  is  promoted 
to  '  cleaner.'  Now,  cleaning  an  engine  after  a  run 
occupies  at  least  ten  hours  of  steady  work,  and  the 
boy  has  to  learn  not  only  how  to  clean,  but  when  to 
clean  each  part — i.e.  which  parts  must  be  cleaned 
while  they  are  hot,  and  which  can  wait  until  they  are 
cold. 

Then  he  has  to  pass  a  time  of  probation  in  firing, 
beginning  with  shunting  engines,  and  learning  all  he 
can,  before  he  can  obtain  a  certificate  which  enables 
him  to  work  on  a  passenger  train.  So  he  goes  on, 
always  learning,  his  doings  of  every  day  being  re- 
corded, so  that  the  record  can  be  produced  against 


ABILITY    OF   DRIVERS.  225 

or  for  him  ;  and  even  after  all  this  work,  he  has  to 
pass  a  severe  examination  before  he  is  allowed  to 
take  charge  of  an  engine. 

Then  he  goes  through  similar  tests  and  trials  as 
driver  of  goods  trains  before  the  lives  of  passengers 
are  entrusted  to  him,  sometimes  being  sent  back  as 
fireman,  and  having  to  go  through  all  the  trials 
again,  until  he  works  his  way  to  the  top  of  the  tree, 
and  is  allowed  to  drive  an  express. 

I  wish  that  something  of  the  kind  could  be  done 
with  the  drivers  of  the  locomotive  engine  which 
we  call  a  horse.  If  authorised  boards  of  examiners 
could  be  formed,  and  horse-owners  would  agree  to 
employ  no  man  or  boy  who  could  not  produce  a 
certificate  showing  that  he  was  competent  to  do  the 
work  for  which  he  engaged  himself,  we  should  find 
the  lives  of  our  horses  nearly,  if  not  quite,  doubled  in 
length,  the  amount  of  work  trebled,  and  the  cost 
halved.  As  the  reader  will  see,  I  am  only  appealing 
to  the  personal  interests  of  the  owners,  and  am  con- 
sidering the  horse  as  a  mere  machine,  without  more 
feelings  than  if  it  were  made  of  steel  and  brass. 

'  Upon  the  railway,'  says  Mr.  Eeynolds,  '  nothing 
should  be  regarded  lightly,'  and  so  it  ought  to  be 
with  regard  to  the  horse. 

One  of  the  first  faults  of  the  bearing-rein,  con- 
sidered as  a  part  of  the  machinery,  is,  that  it  prevents 

Q 


226  HORSE   AXD    MAX. 

the  horse  from  doing  his  full  amount  of  work,  and 
therefore  is  a  cause  of  loss  to  the  owner.  The  horse 
is  made  so  as  to  draw  by  means  of  his  weight,  added 
to  the  propelling  power  of  his  hind  legs.  In  order 
to  do  this,  he  must  be  able  to  lean  forward,  and  if 
he  be  taking  a  load  up  hill,  a  free  horse  will  fling 
himself  so  far  forward,  that  his  nose  comes  half-way 
to  the  ground.  But  this  is  all  wrong  to  the  profes- 
sional eye,  which  likes  to  see  a  horse's  head  well  up, 
no  matter  what  work  he  may  be  doing.  So  the 
bearing-rein  comes  into  operation,  and  up  goes  the 
horse's  head.  Consequently,  instead  of  being  able 
to  fling  his  weight  into  the  collar,  the  horse  is  obliged 
to  scratch  himself  along  by  the  muscles  of  the  fore- 
legs, digging  his  toes  into  the  ground  so  as  to  secure 
a  hold.  The  legs,  not  being  intended  for  that  kind 
of  work,  soon  become  strained,  and  so  the  horse  is 
worn  out  before  its  time.  The  bearing-rein,  in  fact, 
is  to  the  horse  what  the  brake  is  to  an  engine.  No 
one  would  be  foolish  enough  to  waste  the  power  of 
an  engine  by  keeping  the  brakes  down  during  work 
time,  and  exactly  similar  is  the  result  of  working  the 
horse  while  the  bearing-rein  is  used.  My  house  is 
close  to  the  High  Level  Eailway  station  at  Upper 
Norwood,  where  vast  quantities  of  coal,  bricks,  and 
other  heavy  goods  are  constantly  delivered.  There 
is  scarcely  a  waggon  in  which   the  horses  are  not 


ACTION    OF    THE    HORSE.  227 

hampered  with  bearing-reins.  Even  if  there  be  no 
separate  bearing-reins,  the  leading  reins  are  converted 
into  them  by  being  twisted  round  the  hanies  of  the 
collar. 

A  horse  naturally  bows  its  head  and  neck  at  each 
step,  this  action  being  intensified  when  it  is  drawing 
a  weight  up  hill,  and  adding  to  the  power  of  draught. 
Yet  some  of  the  horses  are  *  borne  up  '  so  tightly 
that  their  heads  are  nearly  immovable,  while  the 
others  are  brought  up  sharply  by  the  bit  against  the 
corners  of  their  mouths  each  time  that  they  try  to 
add  to  their  power  by  allowing  the  head  and  neck 
to  droop  as  they  step.  It  is  quite  pitiful  to  see  the 
animals  straining  at  their  loads  on  the  '  City  of  the 
Seven  Hills,'  as  Upper  Norwood  is  popularly  called. 
Four  horses  will  be  seen  with  their  heads  dragged 
back,  struggling  and  scratching  to  pull  up  the  hill 
a  load  which  would  not  be  too  much  for  three 
similar  horses  with  their  heads  free.  Seasoning  and 
remonstrance  are  equally  thrown  away  upon  the 
drivers.  They  have  been  used  to  the  bearing-rein 
all  their  lives,  and  cannot  be  made  to  believe  that 
they  may  possibly  have  been  wrong  all  their  lives. 
If  an  ordinary  carter  be  told  that  several  railway 
companies  employ  some  two  thousand  horses  each 
in  similarly  heavy  work,  and  never  allow  the  bearing- 
rein  to  be  used,  not  the  least  impression  will  be  made 

q2 


228  HORSE    AND   MAN. 

on  his  mind  ;  neither  will  he  be  convinced  if  he  be 
shown  the  magnificent  horses  belonging  to  many 
great  London  firms,  such,  for  example,  as  Messrs. 
Barclay  and  Perkins,  all  of  them  doing  their  work 
with  free  heads. 

Even  the  owners  cannot  depend  on  the  men. 
The  strictest  orders  may  be  given,  and  may  be 
obeyed  as  long  as  the  men  can  be  watched,  but  no 
sooner  is  the  master's  eye  withdrawn  than  on  go 
the  bearing-reins  again.  It  is  easy  enough  to  take 
away  the  bearing- reins  themselves,  but  the  horses 
must  have  reins  of  some  sort,  and  these  can  always 
be  converted  into  bearing-reins,  as  has  already  been 
mentioned. 

I  fear  that  the  only  cure  will  be  that  which 
Messrs.  Barclay  and  Perkins  have  employed  so  suc- 
cessfully— i.e.  instant  dismissal  on  disobedience  to 
orders. 

Sometimes  the  personal  argument  will  be  effec- 
tual, at  all  events  for  a  time.  Give  the  man  a  light 
cart,  put  him  between  the  shafts,  and  set  him  to  pull 
the  cart  up  a  hill.  He  will  instinctively  lean  for- 
ward in  proportion  to  the  heaviness  of  the  task. 
Then  set  him  to  perform  the  same  work,  but  do  not 
let  him  lean  forward. 

If  this  little  experiment  be  conducted  with  good 
humour  and  tact,  the  man  will  mostly  be  convinced. 


STUMBLING.  229 

But  he  will  probably  be  so  ridiculed  by  his  com- 
rades that  iu  selfdefeuce  he  will  revert  to  the 
bearing-rein. 

Now  we  come  to  the  theory  that  the  bearing-rein 
prevents  the  horse  from  falling. 

A  more  ludicrously  absurd  idea  never  entered 
into  a  human  head,  and  it  is  wonderful  that  a  child 
of  six  years  old  should  believe  that  tying  a  horse's 
head  to  its  tail  or  its  collar  can  prevent  it  from 
falling  if  it  stumbles. 

Let  anyone  who  believes  this  to  be  the  fact  tie 
his  head  back  to  his  waist  by  a  similar  strap,  and 
then  run  over  rough  ground.  He  will  find  himself 
even  more  likely  to  fall  than  when  his  head  was  free. 

If  the  bearing-rein  were  fastened,  not  to  the 
horse,  but  to  the  top  of  the  carriage,  there  might  be 
some  show  of  reason  in  the  idea.  Even  in  that  case 
the  horse  is  so  heavy  that  no  rein  could  hold  it  up, 
but  must  snap  under  the  strain.  Supposing  that 
it  could  sustain  the  horse,  matters  would  be  still 
worse  for  the  animal,  which  would  be  left  with  its 
whole  weight  hanging  on  its  mouth.  What  mostly 
happens  when  a  tightly  '  borne-up  '  horse  stumbles,  is 
that  he  falls  forward,  and  the  rein  is  either  snapped, 
or  the  hook  is  pulled  out  of  the  saddle. 

Should  the   horse   fall,  it  would    be  almost  im- 


230  HORSE   AND    MAN". 

possible  for  the  horse  to  recover  its  feet  unless  the 
bearing-rein  be  removed.  In  fact,  as  Mr.  S.  Gill 
very  rightly  says, '  To  imagine  the  animal  is  prevented 
from  falling  by  this  reining  up  of  the  head  is  an  error. 
The  pressure  on  the  veins  and  arteries  impeding 
the  flow  of  blood,  it  is  impossible  for  the  animal 
stumbling  to  recover  himself.' 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  in  the  history  of  the 
bearing-rein  that  in  England  hilly  ground  is  always 
made  an  excuse  for  the  employment  of  this  rein. 
Here,  close  to  the  Crystal  Palace,  the  absence  of 
level  ground  is  always  brought  forward  when  anyone 
tries  to  persuade  a  driver  to  remove  the  bearing-rein. 

It  is  not  so  in  Scotland,  and  yet  Scotland  is  far 
more  hilly  than  England.  Any  of  my  readers  who 
know  Edinburgh,  for  example,  and  have  been  obliged 
to  walk  from  the  New  Town  to  the  Castle  against 
time,  must  be  tolerable  judges  of  a  hill.  Yet  during 
the  whole  time  that  I  was  in  Edinburgh  I  saw 
scarcely  a  bearing-rein  in  use.  The  very  few  that 
I  did  see  belonged  to  gentlemen's  horses,  and  had 
been  imported  from  England. 

The  Scotch  are  far  too  canny  to  act  so  foolishly. 
They  know  the  value  of  a  horse's  work,  and  do  not 
choose  to  hamper  the  animal  with  a  contrivance 
which  prevents  it  from  putting  forth  its  full 
strength. 


BRISTOL    CARTERS.  231 

They  also  know  that,  according  to  Professor 
Fleming,  the  bearing-rein  '  does  not  prevent  stum- 
bling, but,  on  the  contrary,  predisposes  the  horse  to 
fall,  and  with  much  more  severity  than  if  it  were  not 
used.'  Lastly,  putting  the  welfare  of  the  horse  out 
of  the  question,  the  bearing-rein  adds  to  the  expense 
and  weight  of  harness,  and  mves  additional  trouble 
in  keeping  it  clean.  There  are  some  firms  which  do 
not  include  the  bearing-rein  in  their  estimates  of 
harness,  and,  if  the  buyer  insists  upon  having  it,  a 
separate  charge  is  made  for  it. 

A  few  years  ago  I  had  the  pleasure  of  giving  a 
lecture  on  the  subject  at  Bristol.  I  think  that  nearly, 
if  not  quite,  four  hundred  carters  and  other  drivers 
were  present.  Bristol  being  on  very  hilly  ground, 
the  bearing-rein  was  almost  universally  employed. 
However,  after  much  discussion,  many  of  the  drivers 
did  see  the  mistaken  ideas  under  which  they  had 
been  labouring,  and  in  order  to  keep  each  other  in 
countenance,  were  formed  into  a  society,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  wore  a  little  rosette,  by  which  they 
could  be  distinguished. 

I  was  rather  amused  with  one  of  the  men.  After 
having  abandoned  the  bearing-rein  for  a  few  days, 
he  was  so  delighted  with  the  result,  that  he  procured 
two  additional  rosettes,  and  fastened  one  on  each 
side  of  the  horse's  head. 


232  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

A  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  literature 
of  the  bearing-rein  is  afforded  by  Mr.  E.  Cracknell, 
the  well-known  coachman  on  the  London  and  Bir- 
mingham road,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Flower : — 

'  I  drove  the  "  Tantivy "  coach  nearly  twenty 
years  without  a  bearing-rein,  and  seldom  had  a  horse 
fall,  although  they  went  at  a  great  pace,  and  I  fre- 
quently drove  as  many  as  seventy-two  per  day.  The 
class  of  horses  I  had  to  drive  were  difficult,  many  of 
them  being  old  steeple-chasers,  hunters,  Newmarket 
weeds,  &c. 

'  My  first  experience  in  dispensing  with  the  bear- 
ing-rein was  between  Henley-on-Thames  and  Henley  ; 
it  was  the  practice  to  walk  the  horses,  the  greater 
part  of  the  hill  being  very  steep.  One  day  I  left  off 
the  bearing-reins,  and  was  astonished  at  the  result ; 
the  horses  never  attempted  to  slacken  their  pace,  but 
trotted  the  whole  distance  up  the  hill.  From  that 
time  I  dispensed  with  the  bearing-reins  entirely. 

'  There  was  a  strong  prejudice  at  first  with  my 
colleagues  against  it,  but  eventually  they  adopted 
my  plan.  I  had  most  troublesome,  dissipated  horses 
to  manage,  but  with  a  light  hand  and  their  heads  at 
liberty  they  generally  became  tractable.' 

The  reader  will  observe  that  Mr.  Cracknell  does 
not  state  that  horses  never  fall  when  the  bearing-rein 
is  not  used.     When  seventy  horses  are  driven  daily  at 


RUNNING   AWAY.  233 

a  fast  pace,  it  is  not  reasonable  to  expect  that  there 
should  be  no  falls.  He  only  states  that  the  falls 
were  few,  and  in  another  part  of  the  letter  he  refers 
to  the  acknowledged  fact  that  if  a  horse  falls  when 
he  is  wearing  the  bearing-rein,  he  cannot  rise  until  it 
is  removed. 

Putting  aside  the  cab-horses,  which,  fortunately 
for  them,  are  not  hampered  with  these  appliances, 
every  other  horse  at  least  that  falls  in  London  is 
weariug  the  bearing-rein  or  its  equivalent.  Now  I 
do  not  say  that  these  horses  fell  because  they  wore 
the  bearing-rein,  and  it  would  be  equally  foolish 
to  say  that  the  others  fell  because  they  did  not 
wear  it. 

Supposing  that  we  grant — which  I  do  not — that 
the  chances  of  falling  are  equal,  at  all  events,  the 
horse  which  does  not  wear  the  bearing-rein  has  the 
better  chance  of  getting  up  again. 

The  last  argument  which  the  advocates  of  the  bear- 
ing-rein offer  is,  that  it  is  a  safeguard  against  horses 
running  away — i.e.  that  a  horse  cannot  run  away 
while  it  wears  a  tight  bearing-rein.  I  never  could 
see  how  this  effect  could  be  produced,  although  it  is 
assumed  as  an  axiom  by  the  defenders  of  this  rein. 
But  it  is  similarly  assumed  that  the  bearing-rein 
protects  the  horse  against  stumbling  or  falling. 

In  fact,  the  pain  which  is  produced  by  it  will 


234  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

make  a  horse  unmanageable  and  likely  to  run  away. 
Here  is  a  case  in  point. 

The  late  Mr.  B.  Shaw,  M.P.,  possessed  a  horse 
which  was  so  violent  that  the  coachman  ordered  a 
very  severe  bit  to  be  made  expressly  for  it.  Before 
the  bit  was  sent  from  the  maker,  a  groom  was 
exercising  the  horse,  and,  in  order  to  prevent  it 
from  running  away  and  to  keep  it  under  control,  the 
bearing-rein  was  employed  as  usual,  and  drawn  back 
up  to  the  last  hole. 

The  horse  was,  as  the  groom  said,  exceedingly 
'  fresh  '  and  restive,  and  struggled  so  violently  that 
the  rein  broke.  '  I  thought  it  was  all  up  witli  me,' 
said  the  groom,  '  but  to  my  surprise  the  horse 
became  at  once  manageable,  and  went  beautifully,  t 
and  the  severe  bit  was  never  used.' 

Lord  Palmerston  used  to  say  that  '  a  runaway 
horse  is  best  kept  in  by  a  light  hand  and  an  easy 
snaffle,'  and  his  opinion  is  corroborated  by  that  of 
Mr.  Cracknell,  as  quoted  above. 

The  best  authorities  are  unanimous  in  their  con- 
demnation of  the  bearing-rein.  Sir  Francis  Head, 
who  did  as  much  miscellaneous  horsemanship  as 
man  can  well  do,  always  employed  the  strongest 
language  against  it. 

d      o        e> 

The  authors  of  standard  works  on  the  subject 
equally  condemn  it.     Mayhew  never  loses  an  oppor- 


AN    IMPORTANT   MANIFESTO.  235 

tunity  of  denouncing  it.  In  classifying  horses  which 
are  crippled  by  injudicious  treatment,  he  proceeds 
as  follows :  '  A  fourth  set  are  rendered  cripples  by 
the  unfeeling  use  of  the  bearing-rein,  which  disables 
the  organs  of  respiration,  and  renders  the  lightest 
draught  a  terrible  burden,  by  throwing  the  work  on 
the  muscles  of  the  limbs,  while  it  compels  these 
agents  to  contract  at  a  terrible  disadvantage. 

'  Those  who  delight  in  a  lofty  crest  may  accom- 
plish more  by  attention  to  the  health  and  diet  than 
by  the  absence  of  humanity.  The  strongest  bearing- 
rein  and  the  sharpest  bit  cannot  exalt  the  head  of  a 
spiritless  horse.' 

In  another  part  of  the  work  he  shows  by  a  series 
of  diagrams  how  the  best  shoulder  is  ruined  by  the 
bearing-rein,  and  how  the  horse,  from  having  its 
head  raised  abnormally  and  prevented  from  seeing 
the  ground,  by  degrees  acquires  a  step  which  is 
almost  identical  with  that  of  a  blind  animal. 

Youatt,  in  his  well-known  work,  writes  equally 
strongly  on  the  subject,  and  so  does  Fleming. 

If  any  other  argument  could  be  required,  it  may 
be  found  in  an  important  document  which  was  issued 
a  few  years  ago  :  — 

'  We,  the  undersigned,  are  of  opinion  that  the 
use  of  the  bearing-rein,  when  tightly  applied,  is  pain- 
ful and  irritating  to  horses,  is  directly  or  indirectly 


236  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

productive  of  disease  when  regularly  worn,  and  by 
its  mechanical  action  greatly  hinders  horses  from 
employing  their  full  strength.  For  the  above 
reasons — on  the  plea  of  utility  as  well  as  humanity 
■ — its  use  should  be  discontinued.' 

This  document  is  signed,  not  by  '  theorists '  or  '  hu- 
manitarians,' nor  by  ignorant  and  impulsive  women, 
but  by  upwards  of  a  hundred  well-known  veterinary 
surgeons,  six  of  whom  are  professors  in  the  veterinary 
colleges  of  London,  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  &c.  Twenty- 
four  of  them  are  Fellows  of  the  Eoyal  College  of 
Veterinary  Surgeons,  and  the  remainder  are  Members 
of  the  College. 

Several  accompanied  their  signatures  with  addi- 
tional remarks. 

Professor  Axe,  of  the  Eoyal  Veterinary  College, 
London,  makes  the  following  statement : '  Eleven  years' 
experience  in  the  post-mortem  house  and  the  dissecting- 
room  of  our  college  has  made  me  acquainted  with  a 
variety  of  structural  alterations  and  deformities  arising 
from  this  cause,  and  which  must  have  rendered  life  a 
burden  and  shortened  its  span.  .  .  .  If  the  public  could 
see  and  understand  the  effects  of  its  insidious  work  on 
the  respiratory  and  other  organs,  I  do  not  think  that 
its  use  would  be  long  continued  by  them.' 

Mr.  W.  G.  Taylor,  of  Nottingham,  in  allusion 
to  the   adjective  '  tight '  as   applied  to  these  reins, 


INJURED   TONGUES.  237 

adds  that  he  disapproves  of  the  bearing-rein  in  any 
form. 

Mr.  J.  Y.  Blake,  of  Ryde,  states  that  many  horses 
have  come  under  his  notice  with  their  tongues  par- 
tially severed  by  its  use. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Marriott,  of  Colgrave,  Nottingham, 
cites  it  as  one  of  the  causes  of  '  poll-evil ' — i.e.  abscess 
on  the  head;  and  Mr.  J.  Freeman,  of  Hull,  F.R.C.Y.S., 
writes  as  follows  :  '  I  have  often  been  asked  for  some- 
thing to  rub  the  glands  of  the  throat  with  when  a 
tight  rein  has  been  used  In  one  case  of  injury  by 
the  bearing-rein,  I  begged  the  driver  to  leave  it  with 
me  for  three  weeks.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he 
called,  saying  that  his  horse  had  got  quite  well  with- 
out medicine. 

That  the  bearing-rein  causes  *  roaring  '  and  other 
diseases  of  the  respiratory  system  we  have  already 
seen.  The  cause  is  simple  enough.  The  windpipe 
is  forced  into  an  unnatural  curve  by  the  bearing-rein, 
and  the  supply  of  air  is  therefore  checked  in  its  pas- 
sage to  and  from  the  lungs. 

As  to  the  limitation  which  is  apparently  implied 
by  the  words  '  tight  bearing-rein,'  it  is  really  no 
limitation.  A  bearing- rein  which  does  not  '  bear  '  on 
the  horse — i.e.  is  not  tight — is  practically  no  bearing- 
rein  at  all,  and  only  a  piece  of  supplementary  harness 
hung  at  the  horse's  head  by  way  of  ornament. 


238  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

Absurd  as  it  may  seem,  I  have  personally  known 
more  than  one  case  where  the  owner  compromised  with 
his  coachman,  and  permitted  him  to  retain  the  bear- 
ing-rein provided  that  it  were  too  slack  to  press 
against  the  mouth  even  if  the  horse  fell.  The  man 
was  afraid  to  meet  the  professional  eye  of  his  fellows, 
and  was  not  proof  against  the  sneers  to  which  he 
knew  he  would  be  subjected  if  his  horses  wore  no 
bearing-reins. 

One  of  the  most  important  points  in  the  veterinary 
surgeon's  overwhelming  condemnation  of  the  bearing- 
rein  may  not  have  struck  the  reader.  It  is  the  strong 
sense  of  honour  shown  by  the  writers. 

Every  reform  has  some  adherents,  whose  zeal 
outruns  their  discretion,  and  who  do  more  harm  to 
their  cause  than  if  they  had  been  active  opponents. 
For  example,  soon  after  the  Battle  of  the  Bearing- 
reins  began,  some  ladies  made  an  outcry  against  the 
neighbouring  carters,  accusing  them  of  employing 
the  cruel  bearing-reins,  &c.  The  men,  however, 
proved  that  they  had  no  bearing-reins,  but  only 
the  leading  reins,  and  that  their  accusers  did  not 
know  the  difference.  Consequently,  the  enemy  was 
routed. 

I  very  much  fear,  however,  that  although  the  ladies 
might  not  have  been  able  to  distinguish  a  bearing-rein 
from  a  leading-rein,  the  men  may  after  all  have  out- 


IMPETUOSITIES.  239 

witted  them,  the  leading-rein  being  immediately  con- 
vertible into  a  true  bearing-rein  by  a  twist  round 
the  names, 

Other  '  impetuosities,'  to  borrow  Charles  Keade's 
term,  made  an  onslaught  on  the  veterinary  surgeons 
as  a  body,  accusing  them  of  encouraging,  or  at  least 
conniving  at  the  use  of  the  bearing-rein,  because  the 
horses  were  injured  by  it,  and  so  grist  was  brought 
to  their  mill.  I  use,  as  far  as  I  can  remember,  the 
identical  terms. 

Now,  in  this  indictment  there  was  just  that  scin- 
tillula  of  truth  which  makes  such  an  accusation 
doubly  exasperating.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  ailments  of  horses  is  caused  by  the 
bearing-rein,  and  that  if  it  were  to  be  wholly  abolished, 
the  veterinary  surgeons  wTould  have  fewer  patients. 
But  A  has  no  right  to  assume  that  because  B  would 
gain  by  perpetrating  a  dishonourable  action,  B  would 
do  it.  Still  less  has  A  a  risdit  to  assume  that  B 
actually  does  perpetrate  that  action,  and  still  less 
to  accuse  him  of  it  publicly. 

The  above  manifesto  of  the  veterinary  surgeons 
is  a  complete  answer  to  the  charge,  and  shows  that, 
although  by  advising  the  use  of  the  bearing-rein 
they  would  sensibly  increase  their  gains,  they  are 
far  too  honourable  to  do  so  at  the  expense  of  the 
horse. 


240  HOESE   AND    MAN. 

Now  suppose  that  we  sum  up  the  arguments  in 
favour  of  the  bearing-rein  and  against  it. 

On  the  one  side,  the  bearing-rein  is  said  to  impart 
an  appearance  of  mettle  to  the  horse,  and  to  make  it 
look  imposing.  It  is  said  also  to  save  the  horse  from 
stumbling  or  falling,  and  to  prevent  it  from  running 
away.  If  these  statements  could  be  proved,  no 
owner  of  a  horse  would  be  justified  in  refusing  to 
confer  such  a  benefit  upon  his  horse.  But  how  does 
the  case  really  stand? 

In  the  first  place,  the  appearance  of  the  horse  is 
not  improved,  except  to  the  professional  eye,  which, 
not  many  years  ago,  demanded  that  the  ears  should 
be  cropped  and  the  tail  docked  and  '  nicked '  be- 
fore that  eye's  requirements  were  satisfied.  To  the 
eye  of  the  naturalist  or  artist  the  artificially  dis- 
torted attitude  of  the  animal  becomes  a  deformity. 
'  Imagine,'  writes  a  correspondent  of  the  '  Animal 
World,'  '  a  Landseer  being  asked  to  paint  one  of 
these  deformed  fore-quarters  and  straddling  bodies 
while  suffering  from  the  gag-rein ! ' 

Secondly,  we  have  seen  that  if  the  bearing- rein 
has  any  influence  upon  the  tendency  of  the  horse  to 
fall,  it  rather  increases  than  decreases  that  tendency ; 
while  the  assertion  that  it  holds  up  a  horse  from 
falling,  by  tying  his  head  to  his  back,  is  so  glaringly 
absurd  as  to  require  no  refutation. 


SUMMARY.  241 

Lastly,  it  has  been  shown  that  bearing-reins  and 
severe  bits  cannot  prevent  a  horse  from  running 
away,  nor  stop  him  when  he  has  started.  On  the 
contrary,  it  has  been  shown  that  they  are  much 
more  likely  to  incite  him  to  run  away. 

Now  let  us  see  what  the  opponents  of  the  bearing- 
rein  have  to  say  on  their  side  of  the  question.  In 
the  first  place  they  have  proved  that  the  bearing-rein 
causes  torture  to  the  horse  in  proportion  to  the 
tightness  with  which  it  is  drawn.  They  have  proved 
beyond  the  power  of  contradiction  that  it  causes 
various  diseases  and  ailments,  roaring,  poll-evil, 
apoplexy,  spavin,  navicular  disease,  swelling  of  the 
glands  of  the  neck,  and  distortion  of  the  shoulder. 
That  it  deprives  the  horse  of  its  powers  of  traction 
in  proportion  to  the  tightness  of  the  rein  no  one 
has  attempted  to  deny.  That  it  '  renders  the  life  of 
the  horse  a  burden  and  shortens  its  span,'  has  been 
shown  by  Professor  Axe.  The  injury  which  it  does 
to  the  sensitive  mouth  of  the  horse  is  too  evident  to 
need  proof. 

Added  to  this,  we  have  the  unanimous  condem- 
nation of  it  by  more  than  a  hundred  of  our  best 
veterinary  surgeons. 

Even  granting  that  it  did  give  the  horse  a  more 
mettlesome  aspect,  that  it  did  keep  the  animal  from 
falling,  and  that  it  did  prevent  him  from  running 

K 


242  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

away,  we  should  have  no  excuse  for  attaching  to  the 
animal  an  appliance  which  keeps  him  in  constant 
pain  while  he  is  at  work,  which  inflicts  upon  him  a 
variety  of  painful  ailments,  and  which  helps  to  wear 
him  out  in  a  life  of  suffering  before  he  has  passed 
the  half  of  his  natural  existence. 

Parenthetically,  with  regard  to  the  runaway 
horse,  Mr.  Gr.  Ransom  ('  Free  Lance ')  has  invented  a 
contrivance  which,  without  inflicting  the  least  pain, 
will  stop  the  most  infuriated  horse  within  a  few  yards. 
He  was  good  enough  to  present  me  with  his  original 
model.  It  is  made  of  brass,  and  somewhat  resembles 
a  lady's  hinged  bracelet  not  quite  three  quarters  of 
an  inch  in  width. 

When  fitted,  it  passes  over  the  nose  and  is  not 
in  the  least  conspicuous.  If  the  horse  attempts  to 
run  away,  the  driver  or  rider  has  only  to  pull  a  strap 
connected  with  the  apparatus,  which  has  the  effect 
of  closing  the  nostrils.  Now  the  horse,  when  its 
nostrils  are  closed,  is  quite  helpless,  not  being  able 
to  breathe,  and  so  is  brought  to  a  standstill. 

The  North  American  Indian  women  have  a 
similar  mode  of  teaching  their  babies  not  to  cry. 
The  first  time  that  a  baby  raises  its  voice,  the  mother 
closes  its  mouth  and  compresses  its  nostrils,  and  as 
the  process  is  repeated  whenever  the  child  cries,  it 


me.  ransom's  invention.  243 

very  soon  learns  to  be  silent.  In  consequence  of  this 
treatment,  such  a  sound  as  the  crying  of  a  baby  is 
never  heard  in  a  native  encampment,  even  though 
there  may  be  plenty  of  babies  in  it,  lying  on  the 
ground,  or  hung  up  to  branches  to  be  out  of  the 
way. 

Perhaps   Mr.  Eansom,  who   knows   the   Indians 
well,  took  his  idea  from  this  custom. 


244  HORSE   AND   MAN. 


CHAPTEE  XIV. 

The  BLrNKER  and  its  supposed  uses — Cropping  of  ears — Alleged  necessity 
for  cropping — Contradictory  temperament  of  the  horse — Courage  and 
timidity — Inquisitiveness — Rarey's  principle — The  kettle-drummer's 
horse — Mr.  C.  H.  Tamplin's  experience — Obstinacy  of  a  coachman — 
Value  of  the  '  master's  eye ' — Waterton  at  Walton  Hall — Letter 
from  'C.  F.  W.'  to  the  Field  newspaper — 'Jockeying'  adviser — 
Modified  blinkers — Eye  of  the  horse — Cruel  superstitions — The  third 
eyelid,  or  '  nictitating  membrane '  and  its  use — The  groom's  rashness 
and  its  effects. 

We  have  not  quite  finished  with  the  horse's  head. 

Attached  to  the  head  harness  of  horses  used  for 
driving  are  almost  invariably  a  pair  of  leather  flaps 
called  blinkers,  which  cover  the  eyes,  and  prevent 
the  animal  from  seeing  objects  behind  or  on  either 
side  of  him. 

For  riding  purposes,  blinkers  are  never  used,  or 
at  all  events  so  seldom,  that  if  a  ridden  horse  were 
to  be  seen  with  them,  considerable  astonishment 
would  be  excited,  and  in  all  probability  the  horse 
and  its  rider  would  have  to  endure  no  small  amount 
of  derision.  In  America  these  appliances  are  called 
blinders. 


THE    EAR.  245 

Their  object  is  to  prevent  the  horse  from  seeing 
objects  which  will  frighten  it.  Why  a  horse  should 
be  frightened  when  it  is  driven,  and  not  frightened 
when  it  is  ridden,  is  rather  difficult  of  comprehension. 
If  we  accept  the  assumption  that  a  horse  must  be 
frightened  at  objects  which  it  can  see,  we  ought  to 
be  consistent  and  assume  that  it  must  be  frightened 
at  sounds  which  it  can  hear.  And,  to  be  consistent, 
we  ought  to  stop  the  horse's  ears  as  well  as  blind  its 
eyes.  Indeed,  seeing  what  pranks  are  played  with 
the  horse,  I  very  much  wonder  that  ear-stoppers 
have  not  come  into  fashion  long  ago.  Perhaps  they 
might  have  done  so,  if  they  could  have  been  adorned 
with  a  Greek  or  Latin  title,  such  as  Otoclids  or 
Auriclauders,  made  ornamental,  and,  like  blinkers, 
could  bear  the  crest  of  the  owner.  There  are  many 
men  still  living  who  can  remember  when  a  horse 
was  considered  quite  unfit  to  be  looked  at  unless  his 
ears  were  cropped  close  to  his  head,  just  as  was  the 
case  only  a  few  years  ago  with  many  breeds  of 
dogs. 

At  the  present  day  we  should  say  that  the  whole 
beauty  of  the  head  was  destroyed  by  the  loss  of  the 
mobile  ears,  which  indicate  the  emotions  which  pass 
through  the  animal's  mind,  and  that  the  horse  was 
hopelessly  disfigured.  We  might  also  say  that  to 
crop   the  horse's  ears  was   indirectly  dangerous   to 


246 


HORSE   AND    MAN. 


man,  because  the  mode  of  carrying  the  ears  is  one 
of  the  tests  whereby  to  judge  a  horse's  temper. 

All  this  is  perfectly  true.  But  it  was  equally 
true  in  the  days  when  cropping  was  in  fashion,  and 
yet  its  truth  had  not  the  least  effect  on  the  advocates 
of  the  custom. 

This  figure  of  the  Cropped  Horse  is  taken  from 


a  'cropped'  horse. 


a  hunting  print  of  the  period  in  which  cropping  was 
in  fashion. 

At  the  present  day  the  ear  is,  happily  for  the 
horse,  allowed  to  retain  its  full  dimensions,  so  that 
the  animal  can  direct  it  as  he  chooses,  and  be  sensible, 
as  he  ought  to  be,  to  the  slightest  sound.  But,  though 
the  groom  may  not  cut  the  ear  off,  he  cannot  let  it 
alone.     The   inside  of  the  ear  is  furnished  with   a 


BLINKERS.  247 

supply  of  hairs  so  arranged  that  they  exclude  dust, 
flies,  and  other  extraneous  objects,  while  they  do 
not  interfere  with  the  passage  of  sound. 

Therefore,  the  presence  of  these  hairs  is  an 
abomination  to  the  professional  eye,  and  the  groom, 
if  left  to  himself,  will  remove  the  hairs  as  far  as 
possible,  sometimes  cutting  them  off,  and  sometimes, 
when  he  wants  to  be  very  professional,  singeing 
them  down  with  a  candle  flame.  Deafness  is  often 
caused  by  this  atrocious  practice  ;  but  that  is  nothing 
to  the  groom  as  long  as  the  horse  is  got  up  according 
to  the  prevailing  fashion. 

If  the  reader  will  again  turn  to  the  horse 
1  Fashion,'  on  p.  200,  he  will  see  that  I  have  ventured 
to  add  a  pair  of  ear-stoppers  to  the  blinkers,  the 
gag  bearing-rein,  the  hogged  mane,  the  cropped  ears, 
and  the  docked  and  nicked  tail,  all  of  which  are,  or 
have  been,  considered  necessary  to  the  gratification 
of  the  professional  eye. 

The  real  fact  is,  that  blinkers  are  rather  the 
causes  of  fright  than  the  preventives,  and  for  this 
reason.  The  temperament  of  the  horse  is  most 
peculiar,  and  especially  as  regards  courage.  To 
judge  him  from  one  point  of  view,  he  seems  an 
arrant  coward.  To  judge  him  from  another,  he  is 
one  of  the  most  courageous  animals  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.     You  may  see  him  scared   by  a  feather 


248  HORSE   AND    MAX. 

blown  against  his  nose,  or  by  the  sound  of  a  boy's 
popgun,  and  would  naturally  consider  him  to  be  a 
coward. 

But  the  very  animal  that  Avas  frightened  at  a 
feather,  when  properly  taught  will  walk  about  un- 
concernedly among  locomotive  engines,  caring  nought 
for  their  puffings  and  snortings,  and  whistlings,  and 
'  blowing-off'  of  steam. 

The  very  animal  which  ran  away  at  the  sound 
of  the  popgun  will,  when  properly  trained,  face  a 
square  of  infantry  despite  the  glitter  of  the  bayonets 
and  the  flash  and  rattle  of  the  musketry.  He  will 
undauntedly  charge  a  battery,  and  so  from  this 
point  of  view  he  must  be  reckoned  as  exceptionally 
courageous. 

'  He  mocketh  at  fear,  and  is  not  affrighted ; 
neither  turneth  he  back  from  the  sword. 

'  The  quiver  rattleth  against  him,  the  glittering 
spear  and  the  shield. 

'  He  swalloweth  the  ground  with  fierceness  and 
rage  ;  neither  believeth  he  that  it  is  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet. 

'  He  saith  among  the  trumpets,  Ha,  Ha  ;  and  he 
smelleth  the  battle  afar  off,  the  thunder  of  the, 
captains  and  the  shouting.' 

This  magnificent  description  is  as  true  an 
eulogium   of  the   horse's  courage   as  it   was   when 


CHARACTER   OF   THE    HORSE.  249 

penned  by  the  unknown  writer  of  the  Book  of  Job, 
at  least  three  thousand  years  ago. 

Like  ourselves,  the  horse  fears  the  unknown,  or 
rather  the  imperfectly  known,  and  as  soon  as  he 
becomes  familiar  with  the  dreaded  object,  his  fears 
vanish.  It  was  solely  by  acting  on  this  temperament 
that  Earey  was  so  successful  in  the  management  of 
troublesome  horses.  He  went  on  the  principle  that 
the  '  vices '  of  the  horse  are  almost  wholly  due  to  his 
fears,  which  have  not  been  understood  by  man. 

Nothing  could  be  simpler  than  Earey 's  system,  of 
which  I  have  often  been  an  eye-witness.  He  would 
take  any  object  of  terror,  say  a  revolver,  or  a  drum, 
or  an  umbrella,  and  manage  by  degrees  to  make  the 
horse  understand  that  it  would  not  hurt  him. 

Then  he  acted  on  another  characteristic  of  the 
horse. 

The  animal  is  as  inquisitive  as  a  cat,  so  inquisi- 
tive indeed,  that  no  matter  how  much  an  unknown 
object  frightens  him,  he  cannot  keep  himself  away 
from  it.  He  will  stand  at  a  distance  gazing  at  it 
with  outstretched  neck,  and  sniffing  as  if  the  sense  of 
smell  could  tell  him  something  about  it.  Perhaps  a 
new  access  of  fright  will  take  place  and  he  will 
gallop  off,  but  in  a  short  time  is  sure  to  come  back 
again,  drawn  as  if  by  some  magnetic  attraction. 

Thus  he  will  go  on,  always  drawing  nearer  and 


250  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

nearer  until  he  is  close  to  the  dreaded  object.  Then 
he  will  smell  it,  test  it  by  rubbing  it  with  his  nose, 
which  is  the  tactile  organ  of  the  horse  as  the  hand  is 
with  us,  and  then,  having  satisfied  his  curiosity,  will 
trouble  himself  no  more  about  the  former  object  of 
his  fears. 

The  following  short  account  of  Earey's  dealings 
with  a  horse  which  was  too  much  even  for  the  Life 
Guards,  is  taken  from  Mr.  S.  Sidney's  c  Book  of  the 
Horse  : ' — '  The  commanding  officer  of  one  of  the  regi- 
ments of  Household  Cavalry  placed  in  Earey's  hands 
a  cream-coloured  stallion  from  Her  Majesty's  stud 
that  had  resisted  every  effort  of  roughriders  of  the 
regiment  to  make  it  carry  the  kettle-drums. 

'  The  horse  was  in  the  riding  school.  Earey 
took  one  of  the  drums,  placed  it  before  the  horse's 
nose,  and  by  degrees  got  him  to  smell  it.  Then  he 
gave  it  a  slight  tap  with  one  of  his  fingers,  on  which 
the  horse  started,  but  smelt  it  again.  Eepeating  this 
operation  again  and  again  louder,  and  each  time 
with  a  drumstick,  after  a  series  of  starts  and  smells 
the  horse  began  to  find  out  that  the  drum  did  him 
no  harm. 

'  The  drum  was  then  placed  against  his  side  and 
the  tapping  process  repeated.  Finally,  certainly 
within  less  than  an  hour,  Earey  mounted  his  pupil 
and   marched    him    round    the  school,   beating   the 


THE   DKUMMEH'S   HORSE.  251 

drum  loudly.  From  that  time  forward  the  cream 
stallion  bore  the  gorgeously  attired  drummer,  beat- 
ing the  silver  kettle-drums,  and  pacing  proudly  at 
the  head  of  the  regiment.' 

I  have  several  times  seen  him  perform  not  only  a 
similar  feat,  which  is  a  comparatively  easy  one,  but  in 
less  than  half-an-hour  teach  a  shying  horse  to  allow 
all  the  chambers  of  a  revolver  to  be  fired  round  his 
head,  a  flag  to  be  waved  violently  before  his  eyes, 
and  an  umbrella  to  be  opened  suddenly  in  his  face. 

I  fully  believe  that  if  the  owner  of  a  horse  were 
to  begin  driving  it  without  blinkers,  it  would  never 
require  them.  But  of  course  I  admit  that  if  a  horse 
which  had  always  been  driven  in  blinkers  were  to  be 
suddenly  deprived  of  them,  he  might  probably  take 
fright  at  the  unaccustomed  range  of  vision.  This 
feeling,  however,  would  soon  wear  off,  and  then  the 
horse  would  not  only  have  wider  opportunities  of 
finding  out  the  meaning  of  objects  which  would  have 
frightened  him  if  half  seen,  but  would  look  all  the 
better  for  not  having  his  beautiful  eyes  concealed 
behind  the  leathern  flaps. 

Still  it  would  be  quite  possible  to  accustom  the 
horse  to  do  without  them.  At  first,  they  could  be 
spread  out,  so  as  to  allow  the  animal  a  wider  range 
of  vision.  Then  they  could  be  gradually  lessened  in 
size,  and  lastly  removed  altogether. 


252  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

People  often  say  to  me,  '  We  do  not  deny  that 
horses  might  do  well  enough  without  blinkers  as 
long  as  they  keep  to  country  roads,  but  if  they  are 
driven  in  London,  or  any  other  populous  city  where 
there  is  much  traffic,  they  would  be  frightened  at 
the  other  vehicles,  and  especially  at  the  whips  of  all 
the  drivers.'  I  suppose  that  Londoners  think  just 
the  same  of  the  country,  and  that  the  horses  would  be 
afraid  of  the  trees  and  the  wide  expanse  of  country. 

If  people  who  owned  horses  blindfolded  them 
entirely  before  driving  them,  there  might  be  some 
sense  in  this  idea ;  but  as  even  the  tightest  blinkered 
horse  can  see  in  front,  and  can  therefore  see  all  the 
whips  which  are  likely  to  hit  him,  even  this  super- 
ficial argument  fails.  Of  course,  when  a  country 
horse  is  just  brought  to  London,  it  is  nervous  and 
alarmed  at  the  unaccustomed  sights  and  sounds,  and 
so  is  a  London  horse  when  taken  into  the  country, 
whether  it  be  blinkered  or  not.  The  blinker  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  question. 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  the  '  Animal  World,'  as 
long  ago  as  1873,  Mr.  C.  H.  Tamplin,  a  London 
surgeon,  narrated  his  experiences  with  the  '  blinkers  : ' 

6  Two  years  ago  the  idea  occurred  to  me  to  try, 
and  if  possible  find  out,  the  reputed  use  of  blinkers. 
Our  coachman  was  ordered  to  come  round  without 
them.     He  did  so  (bearing-reins  we  had  renounced 


HALF   VISION.  253 

as  instruments  of  torture  long  before),  and  the  horses, 
which  had  always  been  used  to  blinkers  before,  went 
along  beautifully,  and  evidently  enjoying  much  more 
comfort.  In  the  afternoon  we  had  another  pair 
harnessed  in  the  same  way,  and  the  result  was  pre- 
cisely similar. 

'  To  replace  a  horse  which  had  died,  another  was 
bought.  He  also  behaved  extremely  well  without 
blinkers  or  bearing-reins.  Two  others  in  the  country, 
one  a  mare  which  used  to  shy  and  jib  inveterately, 
and  the  other,  almost  thoroughbred,  went  as  quietly 
as  possible  without  blinkers,  those  appendages  having 
been  removed  from  their  harness. 

'Much  stranger  still,  a  young  Irish  horse,  five 
years  old,  almost  thoroughbred,  had  never  been 
driven  in  double  harness  before,  and  had  never  been 
taken  into  any  town  in  his  life  until  he  came  to 
London,  where  he  was  ridden  for  two  weeks  that  he 
might  get  used  to  the  traffic. 

'  At  the  end  of  that  time  our  coachman,  without 
directions,  put  him  into  double  harness  with  blinkers. 
He  went  very  well  until  a  large  dog  ran  across  the 
road  before  him,  when  he  shied  and  nearly  jumped 
over  the  pole.  He  would  probably  have  taken 
to  kicking  had  not  some  one  rushed  up  to  his  head 
and  pulled  the  blinkers  aside  that  he  might  see  the  dog, 
when  he  became  absolutely  quiet. 


254  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

'  The  next  day  our  coachman  removed  the  blinkers, 
and  from  that  time  he  has  behaved  admirably  amidst 
the  busy  traffic  of  the  streets,  without  evincing  a 
tendency  to  shy. 

'  The  inference  I  draw  from  this  and  other  cases 
is,  that  blinkers  are  totally  unnecessary,  and  do  more 
harm  than  good.  In  passing  other  vehicles  at  cross- 
ings and  when  turning,  instead  of  going  blindly  on 
at  the  risk  of  running  against  whatever  may  be  near 
them,  horses  without  blinkers  know  what  is  wanted, 
and  so  become  much  more  easy  to  drive.' 

The  reader  will  probably  have  gathered  from  this 
narrative  the  necessity  for  the  master's  eye  as  the 
only  check  upon  the  perverse  obstinacy  of  servants, 
who  will  always  revert  to  their  accustomed  ways 
whenever  they  can  find  an  opportunity.  It  cannot 
be  too  often  repeated  that  argument  with  a  servant 
is  useless,  and  should  never  be  used. 

'  You  may  prove  to  your  coachman  and  grooms 
that  scooping  out  the  interior  of  the  hoof  is  destruc- 
tion to  the  horse  ;  that  the  bearing-rein  causes  horses 
to  fall,  and  that  the  blinkers  induce  them  to  shy. 
Your  reasoning  will  "go  in  at  one  ear  and  out  of  the 
other,"  without  producing  the  least  impression  on  the 
man's  mind  ;  and,  unless  he  knows  that  he  is  closely 
watched,  he  will  carry  off  the  horse  to  the  farrier's  at 
the  first  opportunity  and  have  the  frog  and  bars  cut 


'THE   SQUIRE.'  255 

on"  and  the  heel  opened.  He  will  replace  the  blinkers 
and  fasten  the  horse's  head  back  with  a  bearing- 
rein,  thinking  all  the  while  that  his  master  is 
a  fool,  and  that  his  own  way  is  the  only  one  for  a 
horse.' 

The  late  Charles  Waterton  afforded  a  valuable 
example  of  the  value  of  the  master's  eye. 

When  he  came  into  possession  of  Walton  Hall,  he 
determined  to  give  Nature  a  fair  trial  against  long- 
established  customs.  A  keen  preserver  of  game,  he 
would  not  allow  his  keepers  to  interfere  with  the 
hawks,  rooks,  crows,  magpies,  starlings,  stoats,  weasels, 
and  other  '  vermin.'  He  had  to  run  counter  to  the 
prejudices  of  every  man  on  his  estate,  not  to  mention 
all  his  neighbours,  and  soon  found  out  that  he  must 
never  argue,  but  give  his  orders  and  see  that  they 
were  obeyed.  Every  one  in  his  employ  knew  that 
every  part  of  his  work  would  come  under  '  the 
Squire's'  eye  in  the  course  of  twenty-four  hours,  but 
when  the  master  would  make  his  appearance  no  one 
knew,  except  that  it  was  sure  to  be  when  he  was  least 
expected. 

One  of  his  rules  was,  that  after  the  day's  work 
the  horses  should  not  be  tied  up,  but  allowed 
to  walk  about  at  liberty  in  the  stable-yard.  One 
night  he  suddenly  asked  me  if  I  would  go  into  the 
grounds  with  him.     So  he  lighted  a  lantern,  and  we 


256  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

went  over  a  large  portion  of  the  premises,  finishing 
with  the  stables. 

In  one  of  them  a  horse  was  tied  up.  Waterton 
cut  the  halter  into  little  bits,  laid  them  on  the  floor, 
and  said  nothing.  About  five  next  morning  the 
bailiff  passed  a  very  unpleasant  quarter  of  an 
hour.  '  Please  zur,  I  thowt,'  began  the  bailiff.  '  You 
thowtl  You  thowt!  Nobody  thinks  here  but  me,' 
returned  Waterton,  and  with  a  stern  warning  sent 
him  out  of  the  room,  not  letting  him  say  another 
word. 

The  following  letter,  addressed  to  the  '  Field ' 
newspaper  of  June  20,  1877,  put  the  bearing-rein 
and  blinker  question  in  a  very  amusing  but  forcible 
summary. 

'  Sir, — I  think  there  is  a  great  deal  of  nonsense 
written  about  this  bearing-rein  business. 

'  The  facts  of  the  case  seem  to  be  as  follows  : 

'  Horses  are  naturally  very  stupid  animals  ;  they 
can  neither  carry  their  heads  nor  their  tails  in  a 
proper  manner,  neither  can  they  make  a  proper  use 
of  their  eyes,  therefore  it  is  necessary  that  they  should 
be  taught  the  proper  use  of  them. 

'  Now  a  horse  naturally  wishes  to  see  the  ground 
in  order  that  he  may  not  tread  on  anything  likely  to 
make  him  tumble  down.  But  we  make  our  roads  so 
smooth  that  there  is  no  necessity  for  his  seeing  them, 


MOKE    HAPPY   THOUGHTS.  257 

so  we  very  properly  tie  his  head  up  to  make  him 
look  at  the  sky,  which  gives  him  a  very  elegant 
appearance,  especially  when  he  gets  used  to  it  and 
takes  naturally  to  what  is  called  "  star-gazing." 

'  But  even  then,  he  might  look  to  the  right  or 
left,  and  so  see  something  or  other  which  it  is  far 
better  for  him  not  to  see,  therefore  we  half  blind 
him.  This  is  a  great  point,  for  with  his  head  tied 
up,  and  his  blinkers  on,  he  cannot  possibly  see  any- 
thing but  the  sky,  where  there  is  nothing  to  see,  and 
consequently  nothing  to  frighten  him. 

I  Sometimes  the  brute  is  badly  made,  being  small 
in  the  chest,  in  which  case  the  saddle,  or  whatever  it 
may  be  termed  to  which  this  bearing- rein  is  fastened, 
is  pulled  forward  by  it,  in  which  case  it  becomes 
necessary  to  have  a  crupper  to  hold  the  saddle  back, 
and  thus  in  a  manner  you  tie  his  head  and  tail  to- 
gether, so  that  he  cannot  put  down  his  head  without 
pulling  up  his  tail. 

'  I  think  the  above  letter  gives  ample  reason  for 
the  use  of  the  bearing-rein  and  blinkers. 

I I  am  so  convinced  that  this  is  the  right  and 
proper  way  to  educate  a  horse,  that  I  mean,  when  I 
can  afford  it,  to  have  a  horse  to  ride  ;  and  as  I  suspect 
I  shall  not  be  a  very  accomplished  horseman,  I  mean 
to  have  a  hook  at  the  front  of  the  saddle  on  which 
to  put  a  good  tight  bearing-rein — this  is  to  keep  him 

s 


258  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

from  running  away  with  me.  I  shall  also  put  on 
blinkers,  so  that  he  can  see  neither  to  the  right  nor 
left,  and  think  that  under  these  circumstances  I  shall 
be  tolerably  safe.— C.  F.  W.' 

There  is  only  one  argument  which  is  in  the 
slightest  degree  in  favour  of  the  blinker.  Among 
horses  and  among  mankind  there  are  sure  to  be 
some  who  have  the  strongest  disinclination  to  do  any 
work  that  they  can  get  any  one  else  to  do  for  them  ; 
and  with  them,  as  with  us,  this  inclination  becomes 
stronger  as  they  grow  older  and  more  artful.  So, 
when  a  pair  are  driven,  one  being  a  willing  horse  and 
the  other  a  slug,  the  latter  will  shirk  his  share  of  the 
work,  and  leave  it  to  his  companion. 

I  saw  just  such  a  pair  while  I  was  in  Boston, 
Mass.  They  belonged  to  one  of  my  friends,  and  as 
we  were  driving,  I  asked  him  why  he  put  blinkers 
on  his  horses,  and  why  those  blinkers  were  quite 
unlike  the  usual  form.  He  said  that  he  was  as  much 
opposed  to  the  blinker  as  myself,  and  would  not 
use  it  until  compelled  by  the  laziness  and  cunning  of 
one  of  the  horses. 

The  animal  could  pull  quite  as  well  as  his  com- 
panion, but  he  was  a  slug  and  a  swindler.  He  always 
contrived  to  keep  his  eye  on  his  master,  and  as  long 
as  he  saw  that  he  was  watched,  he  did  his  fair  share 
of  the  work ;    but,   if  the   driver's    attention  were 


AN   IMPOSTOR.  259 

diverted  in  any  way,  the  horse  dropped  back  from 
the  collar,  but  used  all  the  action  of  a  pulling 
horse,  so  as  to  deceive  the  driver.  Consequently, 
his  comrade — a  very  willing  horse — had  his  work 
nearly  doubled. 

As  soon  as  the  impostor  perceived  signs  of  the 
driver's  renewed  attention,  he  went  forward  into  the 
collar,  and  really  pulled  instead  of  making  believe. 
He  did  it  so  cleverly  that  several  times,  before  the 
trick  was  found  out,  the  whip  came  on  the  wrong 
horse.  In  order  to  counteract  this  tendency,  his 
owner  had  a  special  set  of  blinkers  made.  They  are 
scarcely  half  the  size  of  the  ordinary  blinker,  and 
they  stand  out  nearly  at  right  angles  from  the  head, 
so  that  the  horse  can  see  everything  in  front  or  at 
the  sides,  but  not  behind. 

This  simple  arrangement  completely  checkmated 
the  horse.  He  tried  his  old  ruse  once  or  twice,  but 
always  found  himself  reminded  by  the  whip  that  he 
must  play  no  more  tricks.  For  the  sake  of  sym- 
metry, both  horses  wore  similar  blinkers,  and  when 
I  saw  them,  it  was  impossible  to  tell  which  had  been 
the  delinquent. 

Under  no  circumstances,  however,  oucdit  horses 
to  wear  the  large  blinkers  which  are  occasionally 
seen. 

Sometimes  the  front  edges  of  these  blinkers  are 

s  2 


260  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

drawn  so  closely  together  that  there  is  only  a  narrow 
strip  of  vision  in  front,  and  none  on  either  side. 
These  close  blinkers  have  two  bad  effects  on  the  eye. 
In  the  first  place,  they  heat  the  eye-ball  by  prevent- 
ing the  free  access  of  air  to  it ;  and  in  the  next,  by 
forcing  the  animal  to  keep  its  eyes  always  directed 
forwards,  they  fatigue  and  strain  the  delicate  muscles 
by  which  the  eye  is  moved. 

In  this  place  it  is  very  tempting  to  describe  the 
structure  of  the  horse's  eye,  but  such  a  description 
would  be  outside  the  province  of  this  book,  which 
only  deals  with  those  structures  of  the  animal  which 
ought  to  be  understood  by  those  who  have  the 
charge  of  it. 

Considering  the  manner  in  which  the  horse  is 
treated  by  man,  I  almost  wonder  that  fashion  did 
not  recommend  the  entire  instead  of  the  partial 
blinding  of  the  horse.  Had  fashion  turned  in  that 
direction,  no  question  of  humanity  would  have  stood 
in  its  way.  Those  who  crop  the  ears  of  horses  or 
dogs,  or  who  cut  off  their  tails  at  the  demand  of 
fashion,  would  have  no  scruple  in  going  a  step 
farther,  and  putting  out  the  horse's  eyes.  The 
reader  may  think  that  I  am  going  too  far  in  making 
such  a  statement,  but  I  am  simply  stating  the  truth. 
All  who  know  anything  of  *  fancy  '  are  familiar  with 
the  fact  that  it  is  the  custom  to  put  out  the  eyes  of 


*  scaling'  and  tongue-slitting.  261 

certain  birds,  because  it  is  thought  that  their  atten- 
tion, being  shut  off  from  distraction  by  external 
objects,  would  be  concentrated  in  their  song.  Some 
birds  escape  total  blindness  by  being  '  scaled.'  A 
red-hot  knitting  needle  is  held  so  close  to  the  eye, 
without  actually  touching  it,  that  a  white  '  scale '  is 
formed  on  the  cornea,  and  prevents  light  from  having 
access  to  the  eye  until  the  scale  is  thrown  off,  and 
the  cornea  restored  by  the  reparative  operations  of 
Nature.  Many,  however,  if  not  most,  are  totally 
blinded,  the  red-hot  needle  being  pushed  into  the 
pupil  of  the  eye.  This  is  no  modern  practice,  as 
is  shown  by  one  of  the  photos  in  Hogarth's  '  Pro- 
gress of  Cruelty.' 

The  custom,  which  still  lingers,  of  slitting  the 
tongue  of  a  starling  or  magpie,  in  order  to  enable 
it  to  speak,  is  scarcely  less  cruel.  Oddly  enough, 
its  gradual  extinction  has  been  owing,  not  to  any 
increase  of  humanity  on  the  part  of  man,  but  to 
the  improvement  of  our  coinage. 

To  slit  the  tongue  with  steel  was  thought  to  be 
useless,  and  the  only  instrument  which  possessed  the 
requisite  virtue  was  a  '  silver  sixpence.'  Some  of 
my  readers  may  be  old  enough  to  recollect  the  six- 
pences which  were  current  in  my  childhood — mere 
irregular  discs  of  metal,  with  scarcely  a  vestige  of 
obverse  and  reverse,  and  worn  at  the  edges  until 


262  HORSE    AND   MAN. 

they  were  as  sharp  as  knife- blades.  The  doubly 
thick  '  milled '  edge  of  the  modern  coinage,  how- 
ever, has  had  the  curious  effect  of  saving  from  a 
painful  operation  thousands  of  starlings,  jackdaws, 
and  magpies. 

When  I  was  at  school  at  Ashbourne,  in  Derby- 
shire, I  remember  one  old  sixpence,  which  belonged 
to  a  man  of  sporting  propensities,  and  which  was 
kept  sharp  expressly  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  birds' 
tongues. 

Now,  I  maintain  that  the  men  who  will  burn 
out  the  eyes  of  a  bird  to  make  it  sing,  or  slit  its 
tongue  to  make  it  talk,  or  cut  off  the  ears  or  tail 
of  a  dog  or  a  horse  at  the  demand  of  fashion,  would 
not  hesitate  to  go  one  step  farther,  and  put  out  the 
eyes  of  the  horse  if  the  prevailing  fashion  required 
that  it  should  be  blinded. 

Fortunately,  fashion  has  not  as  yet  gone  so  far, 
and  the  groom  may  not  destroy  the  eyes  of  the 
horse.  But,  in  order  to  be  in  the  fashion,  he  does 
go  as  far  as  he  can  towards  injuring  the  eye. 

In  the  first  place,  the  eyelashes,  which,  of  course, 
are  intended  for  a  protection  for  the  eye  of  the 
horse  as  for  that  of  man,  offer  a  temptation  which 
the  fashionable  groom  cannot  resist,  and  he  cuts 
them  off.  The  eyelashes  will,  however,  grow  again, 
and  the  harm  is  but  temporary.     Far  different,  how- 


CUTTING   THE    *  HAW.'  2G3 

ever,  is  it  with  another  structure  connected  with 
the  eye. 

In  common  with  many  mammals,  with  birds, 
frogs,  and  several  other  vertebrates,  the  horse  is 
furnished  with  a  sort  of  third  eyelid,  or  '  nictitating 
membrane,'  as  it  is  scientifically  termed.  In  the 
horse  and  dog  it  goes  by  the  popular  name  of  the 
'  haw.'  Without  closing  the  external  eyelid,  the 
animal  can  draw  the  nictitating  membrane  over  the 
eye,  so  as  to  sweep  off  any  dust  or  extraneous  sub- 
stance that  might  injure  the  eye.  This  movement 
may  be  seen  to  perfection  in  the  owl  tribe. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  this  membrane  becomes 
inflamed,  mostly,  I  believe,  from  the  ammoniacal 
vapour  of  ill- ventilated  stables,  and  then  it  is  apt 
to  protrude  from  the  corner  of  the  eye.  The  groom, 
who  naturally  dislikes  the  red,  unsightly  projection, 
never  thinks  of  treating  it  as  a  case  of  subduable 
inflammation,  but  cuts  it  off.  From  that  time,  the 
membrane  can  never  do  its  work  rightly,  and  the 
consequence  too  often  is  a  partial  or  entire  blinding 
of  the  eye. 


264  HORSE  AND   MAfl. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  mane  and  the  practice  of  'hogging'  -The  tail  and  its  office — What 
man  does  to  the  tail — Docking — A  puzzled  J.P. — The  professional 
eye  again — Docking  and  lock-jaw — Nicking — An  unexpected  ally — 
'  Conducive  to  human  safety  ' — The  tail  and  the  crupper — Winter 
and  summer  coats  of  the  horse — Clipping  and  singeing — American 
horses  in  winter — Fashion  with  man  and  horse — The  groom's  real 
reason  for  clipping — Mayhew  and  Lupton's  opinions  of  clipping — The 
'  moulting '  of  birds. 

Having  now  seen  some  of  the  effects  of  the  profes- 
sional eye  upon  the  head  of  the  horse,  we  will  pass 
to  its  neck  and  spine. 

The  chief  glory  of  the  horse's  neck  is  the  Mane, 
which  '  clothes  his  neck  with  thunder.'  It  is 
balanced  by  the  full  and  flowing  tail  which  adorns 
the  last  vertebras  of  the  spine,  both  of  these  orna- 
ments being  distinguishing  marks  between  the  horse 
and  the  ass.  It  could  not  be  expected  that  the 
professional  eye  could  miss  such  sj)lendid  oppor- 
tunities as  are  presented  by  the  mane  and  tail,  on 
both  of  which  man  has  laid  his  sacrilegious  hands. 

The  Creator  has  made  the  mane  full  and  flowing 
to  match  the  tail.     Man,  therefore,  cuts  it  away  until 


'  HOGGING.' 


265 


only  some  two  inches  are  left  standing  perpen- 
dicularly, so  as  to  make  the  neck  of  the  horse  look 
as  much  as  possible  like  that  of  the  ass. 

This  custom  of  cutting  the  mane,  or  '  hogging '  it, 
as  this  particular  form  of  mutilation  is  called,  was,  as 
far  as  I  can  discover,  introduced  in  the  early  part  of 
the  century,  when  a  sham  classical  mania  reigned 
paramount  in  the  fashionable  world.     Sporting  men 


HORSE   WITH   '  HOGK3ED  '   MANE. 

were  called  '  Corinthians,'  horse  races  were  dignified 
by  the  name  of  '  Olympian  Games,'  and  so  forth. 
Therefore,  the  horses  had  to  look  classical  in  order  to 
preserve  consistency,  and  their  manes  were  cut  so  as 
to  make  them  resemble  the  horses  of  antiquity. 

Lately,  I  regret  to  say  that  the  mutilation  of  the 
mane  has  been  revived,  chiefly,  I  believe,  by  polo 
players. 


266 


HORSE   AND    MAN. 


Except  that  '  hogging  '  the  mane .  is  a  shameful 
disfigurement  of  the  horse,  it  does  no  harm.  But 
when  man  deals  with  the  tail,  a  very  different  verdict 
must  be  given.  The  tail,  as  the  Creator  made  it,  is 
shown  in  the  figure  called  '  Nature,'  on  p.  200.  One 
of  its  uses  is  obviously  to  act  as  a  whisk,  and  drive 
away  the  flies  which  irritate  the  sensitive  skin  of  the 
animal,  especially  in  hot  weather  ;  and  that  it  is  an 

ornamental  appendage,  without 
which  the  form  of  the  horse 
would  be  incomplete,  is  evident 
to  any  but  the  professional  eye. 
Some  years  ago,  while  en- 
gaged in  making  out  the  heads 
of  this  work,  I  gathered  to- 
gether some  notes  under  the 
title  of  'Exploded  Fashions.' 
Those  which  refer  to  the  tail 
are  as  follows  :  '  Bang-tail,  cock-tail,  dock-tail,  nick- 
tail.'  With  the  greatest  regret  I  have  seen  these 
exploded  fashions  creeping  slowly  but  surely  back 
again.  The  tail,  which  some  years  ago  was  allowed 
to  preserve  its  natural  and  beautiful  form,  has  been 
gradually  shortened. 

The  result  comes  from  the  rivalry  of  grooms  and 
coachmen.  While  driving,  especially  in  places  of 
fashionable  resort,  they  naturally  inspect  the  horses 


TAIL   DOCKED   AND 
NICKED. 


PROFESSIONAL   RIVALRY.  267 

belonging  to  the  carriages  which  they  meet.  Mr. 
Brown's  coachman  sees  that  Lord  Kennaquh  air's 
horses  have  had  their  tails  cut  short,  so  nothing 
will  serve  him  but  to  cut  his  own  horses'  tails  still 
shorter. 

If  this  rivalry  in  tail-cutting  extended  only  to  the 
hair  it  would  do  no  very  great  harm.  It  would 
spoil  the  appearance  of  the  horse,  but  would  not 
inflict  pain  or  affect  health,  and  the  hair,  if  allowed 
to  grow  without  hindrance,  would,  in  process  of 
time,  resume  its  natural  appearance. 

But  this  tail-cutting  mania  goes  farther,  and  not 
only  the  hair,  but  the  tail  on  which  it  grew  is  cut  off, 
several  of  the  last  vertebras  being  amputated.  The 
pain  caused  by  this  operation  is  very  great,  but,  as 
we  shall  see,  the  torture  is  not  all.  How  painful  the 
operation  is,  is  shown  in  the  following  letter  : — 

'is  docking  horses'  tails  cruel  in  a  legal  sense? 

1  To  the  Editor  of  the  "  Daily  Neivs" 

'  Sir, — I  am  a  country  magistrate,  who  is  anxious 
to  obtain  an  opinion  founded  on  the  judgment  of  my 
brother  magistrates  throughout  the  country  generally 
on  the  subject  of  this  letter.  My  personal  dislike  of 
anything  should  not  make  me  give  a  decision  which 
could  not  be  maintained  if  appealed  against. 


268  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

'  I  am  fifty-seven  years  old,  and  from  boyhood  in 
the  hunting-field,  on  the  race-course,  and  in  a  cavalry 
regiment,  I  have  had  horses  as  my  friends  and 
servants,  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  deciding  the 
practice  of  docking  to  be  unnecessary  and  cruel. 
Unfortunately  it  is  a  common  custom,  and  to  be  con- 
sistent, thousands  should  be  summoned,  and  not,  as 
now,  only  one  occasionally.  I  think  it  is  shown  to  be 
unnecessary  for  safety  in  driving,  because  when  a  few 
years  ago  it  was  not  the  fashion  to  dock  horses'  tails, 
carriage  accidents  were  not  more  frequent  than 
now. 

'  That  it  is  cruel  I  have  no  doubt.  Providence 
gave  the  horse  a  tail  for  good  reasons,  as  any  one 
who  has  watched  a  colt  at  grass  can  see.  The 
absence  of  it  when  flies  are  troublesome  causes 
absolute  misery.  It  will  also  be  remarked  that  those 
parts  over  which  the  tail  naturally  falls  have  little 
or  no  hair,  and  therefore  need  its  protection. 

'What  does  docking  mean?  It  is  taking  off 
several  joints  of  the  tail,  and  then  searing  the  bleeding 
stumps  with  a  hot  iron.  Can  any  man  imagine  this 
torture  applied  to  his  finger,  rendering  it  for  ever 
less  useful  than  Nature  intended,  and  deliberately 
approve  of  its  being  inflicted  on  a  helpless  animal  to 
gratify  a  passing  fashion  ? 

'  I  am  informed  that  at  Carmarthen  a  conviction 


' DOCKING.'  269 

was  recently  obtained  and  a  fine  inflicted  for  docking 
a  tail  under  circumstances  of  great  cruelty,  the 
operation  taking  nearly  half  an  hour  in  all,  and  the 
irons  having  to  be  heated  three  times  before  the 
bleeding  could  be  stanched.  Was  not  that  revolting 
barbarity  ?  and  who  is  to  say  that  such  cases  do  not 
frequently  occur,  and  that  in  a  greater  or  less  degree 
they  must  occur  so  long  as  the  custom  prevails  ? 

'  I  am  informed — all  credit  to  the  humane  person 
who  so  ordered — that  by  a  recent  regulation  re- 
mounts for  the  cavalry  are  rejected  if  thus  maimed. 
Might  not  this  principle  be  extended,  and  all  docking 
(except  in  case  of  disease  or  deformity)  be  considered 
to  come  under  the  term  of  cruelty  in  a  legal  sense, 
and  therefore  punishable  by  law  ?  I  am  anxious  to 
do   what   is  right,  and   remain,  Sir,  your  obedient 

servant, 

*  A  Puzzled  J.P. 

1  February  2,  1884.' 

The  regulation  to  which  the  puzzled  J.P.  refers 
has  recently  been  repeated,  September  12,  1884,  and 
is  as  follows  : — 

*  DOCKING   HORSES. 

'As  it  has  been  brought  to  notice  that  in  the 
mounted  service  the  regulations  in  regard  to  the 
length  of  horses'  tails  are  not  observed,  and  as  horses 


270  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

with  short  tails  are  practically  unfit  for  service  in  the 
field  where  flies  are  troublesome,  the  following  addi- 
tion has  been  made  to  Par.  5,  Sect.  11 : — "Queen's 
Eegulations  and  Orders  of  the  Army.  General 
officers,  when  making  their  inspection  of  mounted 
corps,  will  ascertain  whether  these  instructions  are 
strictly  followed,  and  they  will  specially  report  every 
instance  in  which  they  are  disregarded  that  comes 
under  their  notice.  Horses  with  short  docks  are  not 
to  be  purchased  as  remounts." ' 

The  very  forcible  statements  of  the  'Puzzled 
J.P.'  were  supplemented  by  a  letter  from  Mrs.  H. 
McHquham,  of  Staverton  House,  near  Cheltenham, 
dated  February  4,  1884  : — 

'I  am  sorry  to  be  able  to  add  to  the  horrors  con- 
tained in  a  "Puzzled  J.P.'s"  letter  by  saying  that 
the  terrible  operation  of  docking  the  tails  of  horses  is 
sometimes  followed  by  lock-jaw.  I  was  recently  told 
of  three  such  cases  occurring-  in  two  stables. 

'When  lock-jaw  occurs,  it  is  usual  to  sling  the 
poor  animals,  to  prevent  them  from  ending  their 
sufferings  by  dashing  their  heads  against  their 
mangers.  This  wretched  ending  occurred  in  one  of 
the  three  cases  I  have  spoken  of.  The  whinnying  of 
the  poor  creature  was  touching  to  hear,  and  its 
sufferings  will  prevent  a  repetition  of  a  similar  bar- 
barity in  its  owner's  stables.' 


LOCK-JAW.  271 

It  is  really  wonderful  how  the  ever-changing 
fashion  of  the  day  perverts  the  judgment  and  blunts 
the  feelings. 

There  is  now  before  me  a  letter  from  a  gentleman 
who  is  a  great  breeder  of  hunters.  He  acknowledges 
that  he  has  himself  lost  two  horses  from  lockjaw 
produced  by  docking,  and  that  he  knows  of  other 
cases.  Yet  he  declares  in  favour  of  the  operation, 
because  in  his  opinion  '  it  improves  the  horses  very 
much ! ' 

Again  I  say,  as  I  did  with  regard  to  the  gag 
bearing  rein,  that  even  if  the  operation  of  docking 
did  improve  the  appearance  of  the  horse  instead  of 
disfiguring  it,  as  is  really  the  case,  we  have  no  right 
to  inflict  such  torture  on  an  animal  merely  to  gratify 
our  eyes. 

There  is  even  less  excuse  for  docking  than  for 
the  bearing-rein,  for  at  all  events  the  advocates  of 
the  latter  do  really  think  that  it  holds  up  a  stumbling 
horse  and  prevents  him  from  running  away,  besides" 
'  improving '  his  appearance,  whereas  no  such  argu- 
ment can  be  urged  in  favour  of  docking. 

The  Eoyal  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Animals  ought  to  be  empowered  to  proceed 
against  any  one  who  was  guilty  of  this  abominable 
practice,  and  ought  to  carry  out  the  law  in  the  most 
rigid  form,  without  the  least  respect  of  persons. 


272  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

If  the  managing  body  of  the  Eoyal  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  should  be  afraid  to 
proceed  in  such  cases  because  some  of  the  delinquents 
belong  to  the  Society,  and  their  subscriptions  would 
be  lost,  I  can  only  say  that  the  Society  would  not  be 
doing  the  work  which  it  professes  to  do.  It  ought  to 
proceed  against  Lord  Kennaquhair  for  having  the 
tails  of  his  horses  docked,  or  for  using  the  gag-rein, 
as  fearlessly  as  against  the  butcher's  lad  for  beating 
his  horse  about  the  head  with  his  meat-tray. 

Are  we  to  revert  to  the  practice  of  '  nicking  '  the 
tail?  Perhaps  the  reader  may  not  know  what 
'  nicking '  signifies.  Indeed,  I  find  that  very  few 
people  have  the  least  idea  that  '  docking '  means 
anything  more  than  cutting  the  hair  too  closely,  and 
can  scarcely  believe  me  when  I  tell  them  that  the 
very  specious  word  '  docking  '  signifies  the  amputa- 
tion of  several  vertebras  of  the  tail,  and  the  searing 
of  the  raw  and  bleeding  stump  with  red-hot  irons. 

There  is  only  one  abomination  which  has  not  as 
yet  revived,  and  that  is,  the  operation  called  '  nicking,' 
which  was  in  practice  some  sixty  years  ago. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  demands  of  the  pro- 
fessional eye  became  more  and  more  exacting.  Even 
the  docked  tail  was  not  sufficiently  distorted  from 
Nature's  model  to  satisfy  that  eye,  which  required 
that  the  tail  should  as  far  as  possible  resemble  a 


<  XT 


NICKING. 


273 


half-opened  fan  in  shape,  and  that  instead  of  hanging 
down,  as  Nature  intended,  it  should  be  stuck  up  per- 
pendicularly. 

So,  after  several  vertebras  had  been  cut  off,  and 
the  stump  seared  according  to  custom,  the  remaining 
vertebras  were  cut  partially  through  on  the  under 


'  NICKING  '  THE   TAIL. 


side.  This  was  for  the  purpose  of  severing  the  rather 
powerful  tendon  which  pulls  the  tail  down.  Lest 
the  wounds  should  be  healed  in  the  ordinary  manner, 
and  so  give  the  animal  a  chance  of  lowering  its  tail, 
a  piece  of  machinery  was  invented  and  used  as  seen 
in  the  illustration. 


274  HOUSE  AND   MAN. 

The  tail  being  tied  up  as  here  shown,  it  remained 
nearly  perpendicular  whether  the  horse  stood  or  lay 
down. 

Any  of  my  readers  who  have  ever  suffered  from 
a  cut  finger  may  form  some  idea  of  the  agony  which 
the  horse  must  have  endured  while  these  wounds 
were  being  healed.  The  natural  tendency  of  a 
wound  is  to  contract  in  course  of  healing,  and  even 
during  that  natural  process  a  considerable  amount 
of  pain  is  suffered.  What  it  must  be  when  the 
mouths  of  a  series  of  wounds  are  kept  mechanically 
torn  apart  we  can  scarcely  imagine. 

Some  years  ago,  in  the  course  of  a  lecture  de- 
livered at  Cheltenham,  I  described  this  process,  and 
illustrated  the  description  by  sketches  on  my  black 
canvas.  There  were  some  very  decided  expressions 
of  natural  incredulity  among  the  audience,  several 
persons  being  unable  to  believe  that  such  cruelty 
could  have  existed,  and  thinking  that  I  had  been 
imposed  upon. 

After  the  lecture  was  finished,  a  venerable,  white- 
haired  and  white  bearded  gentleman  came  on  the 
platform  and  asked  leave  to  say  a  few  words.  He 
was  evidently  well  known,  as  his  appearance  was 
greeted  with  loud  applause.  He  said  that  he  had 
heard  some  persons  expressing  disbelief,  but  stated 
that  when  he  was  a  boy  he  had  seen  the  operation 


HUMAN  SAFETY.  275 

of '  nicking  '  performed,  and  that  both  the  description 
and  sketches  were  perfectly  correct. 

I  then  found  that  he  was  Mr.  Samuel  Bowley,  so 
well  known  as  an  advocate  of  teetotalism. 

The  illustration  is  taken  from  a  plate  in  an  old 
work  on  horse  management.  In  the  plate  several 
horses  are  represented,  so  as  to  show  the  different 
stages  of  the  process. 

The  reader  could  hardly  imagine  that  anyone  at 
the  present  day  could  have  the  hardihood  to  give 
any  reason,  except  the  following  of  fashion,  for 
docking  horses.  Yet,  in  July  of  this  present  year 
(1884),  a  council  of  veterinary  surgeons  voted 
unanimously  that  the  docking  of  horses'  tails  was  con- 
ducive to  human  safety,  and  therefore  ought  to  be 
adopted  I 

1  Conducive  to  human  safety,'  forsooth  ! 

What  connection  can  there  be  between  human 
safety  and  the  length  of  a  horse's  tail  ? 

Certainly  the  connection  is  not  very  easy  to 
trace,  and  the  train  of  reasoning  is  rather  circuitous. 
However,  here  it  is. 

Supposing  that  you  were  driving  a  long-tailed 
horse,  and  that  you  were  a  careless  handler  of  the 
reins,  and  let  them  hang  too  low,  the  horse  might 
whisk  its  tail  over  the  rein  so  as  to  take  it  out  of 
your  command,  and  then  it  might  be  frightened,  and 

t  2 


276  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

then  might  run  away,  and  then  might  upset  the 
carriage,  and  then  you  might  be  killed. 

Even  if  all  this  long  series  of  misfortunes  did 
occur,  the  fault  would  surely  he  with  the  careless 
driver.  The  '  Puzzled  J.P.'  is  perfectly  right  when 
he  says  that  carriage  accidents  were  not  more  fre- 
quent when  the  horses  wTore  their  tails  of  their 
natural  length  than  is  the  case  at  the  present  time. 

Another  '  reason '  is,  that  the  full  and  flowing 
tail  is  not  easily  put  through  the  crupper.  In  fact, 
to  the  professional  eye  the  tail  is  nothing  but  a  con- 
venient peg  on  which  the  crupper  may  be  hung. 
So,  to  carry  out  these  ideas  logically,  the  rat-tailed 
horse  is  your  only  animal.  There  is  no  troublesome 
hair  to  get  in  the  way,  and  by  cutting  off  the  vertebras 
to  suit  your  individual  taste,  you  can  make  the 
crupper  peg  of  any  length  that  you  please.  Were 
it  not  for  the  crupper,  the  simplest  plan  would  be  to 
cut  off  the  tail  altogether,  but  that  appendage  was 
so  evidently  created  for  a  crupper-peg,  that  enough 
of  it  must  be  left  to  serve  its  obvious  purpose. 

I  very  much  wonder  that  the  nicked  and  stuck- 
up  tail  was  not  voted  to  be  '  conducive  to  human 
safety.'  The  process  of  reasoning  would  be  very 
similar,  and  quite  as  sound. 

A  bad  rider  might  mount  a  horse  with  a  natural 
tail,  and  the  horse  might  rear,  and  the  rider  would 


clipping.  277 

slip  off  over  the  tail  and  fall,  and  might  be  trodden 
upon  and  killed.  But  if  the  tail  were  nicked  and 
stuck  up,  the  rider  would  be  caught  upon  it,  and 
then  he  could  hold  on  by  the  saddle  as  long  as  the 
horse  reared,  and  regain  his  seat  when  the  animal 
came  on  all  fours  again. 

Having  caused  as  much  harm  as  possible  to  the 
foot  and  the  mouth,  and  the  eye  and  the  neck,  and 
the  spine  and  the  tail,  the  professional  eye  casts  its 
baleful  glance  upon  the  Body,  and  demands  that  it 
shall  be  deprived  of  its  natural  covering  just  when  it 
most  needs  protection. 

The  horse,  like  many  other  animals,  has  two 
sets  of  clothes  :  a  cool  and  light  suit  for  the  summer, 
and  a  warm  and  heavy  coat  for  the  winter. 

In  the  course  of  nature  these  clothes  are  re- 
gularly exchanged,  and  the  horse  puts  on  his  long- 
haired winter  dress  before  the  cold  weather  comes 
on.  But,  unfortunately  for  the  horse,  the  long, 
natural  winter  coat  is  to  the  professional  eye  as  great 
an  abomination  as  the  long  natural  mane  and  tail, 
and  so,  either  by  clipping  or  singeing,  the  warm 
winter  coat  is  cut  as  short  as  that  which  is  intended 
only  for  summer  wear. 

Here,  then,  is  another  of  the  many  ingenious 
devices  by  which  man  does  his  best  to  shorten  the 


278  HORSE  AND   MAN. 

life  of  the  horse.  The  animal,  whose  skin  is  sin- 
gularly sensitive,  and  given  to  perspiration,  is  taken 
on  a  cold  winter's  day  out  of  a  warm  stable,  in 
which  all  the  pores  are  kept  open,  and  brought  into 
a  frosty  temperature,  which  is  often  aggravated  by 
a  sharp  wind.  Only  one  result  is  likely  to  take 
place,  and  mostly  does  take  place.  The  perspiration 
is  checked,  thrown  back  upon  the  system,  and  the 
horse  takes  a  cold,  which,  unless  promptly  treated,  will 
develop  into  pneumonia,  or  inflammation  of  the  lungs. 

In  America,  horse  owners  are  wiser  than  we  are. 
They  have  a  complete  set  of  waterproof  clothing  for 
each  horse,  even  covering  the  ears,  and  these  coverings 
are  made  in  several  portions,  are  ventilated,  and  shelter 
the  horse  completely  from  the  cold  air.  There  are 
apertures  through  which  the  shafts  and  reins  pass, 
but  even  these  are  guarded  with  waterproof  flaps. 

In  this  country,  however,  we  are  less  thoughtful, 
and  many  a  fine  horse  is  lost  through  the  want 
of  a  little  forethought. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  '  reasons  '  are  plentiful 
enough  when  any  outrage  on  Nature  is  committed, 
no  matter  whether  the  subject  be  ourselves,  or 
the  animal  of  which  we  have  the  control.  All  kinds 
of  '  reasons '  have  been  proffered  when  man  acts  in 
contravention  of  Nature. 

Shaving,   for    example,   has    its    advocates;    its 


SHAVING.  279 

object  being  to  make  the  masculine  face  as  effeminate 
as  possible.  Our  immediate  ancestors,  say  of  the 
reign  of  George  II.,  were  more  logical  than  our- 
selves, and  not  only  shaved  the  face,  but  the  entire 
head,  substituting  an  artificial  covering  of  horsehair 
or  goat's  hair,  called  a  peruke,  for  the  natural  cover- 
ing which  they  removed. 

The  ancient  Egyptians  were  still  more  logical,  for 
they  shaved  the  whole  body  daily,  from  the  crown  of 
the  head  to  the  sole  of  the  foot.  In  like  spirit  we 
cut  away  the  natural  protection  of  the  horse's  hoof, 
and  substitute  an  artificial  protection  of  iron. 

Many  of  my  readers  can  remember  the  time 
when  the  British  soldier  was  obliged  to  buckle  round 
his  neck  a  stiff  leathern  stock,  so  that  he  could 
hardly  breathe,  and  men  were  constantly  struck 
down  in  the  ranks  with  incipient  apoplexy.  No 
sooner  did  common  sense  urge  the  abolition  of  the 
stock  than  the  old  officers  arose  in  their  wrath,  and 
eulogised  the  leather  stock  to  the  skies. 

It  saved  the  soldier  from  a  sword-stroke  should 
he  happen  to  be  in  personal  conflict  with  a  dragoon, 
and  the  dragoon  should  happen  to  strike  his  neck, 
and  the  blow  should  happen  not  to  be  parried.  It 
saved  the  soldier  the  trouble  of  holding  his  head  up, 
because  the  stock  did  it  for  him.  In  point  of  fact, 
the  professional  eye  was  accustomed  to  the  stock, 


280  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

and  could  not  recognise  a  man  as  a  soldier  unless 
he  wore  it. 

As  for  feminine  humanity,  words  fail  to  express 
the  countless  methods  by  which  women  have  done 
their  best  to  cripple  themselves  for  life,  and  the  extra- 
ordinary ingenuity  of  the  excuses — '  reasons  '  they 
term  them — with  which  they  defend  tight  corsets. 
I  have  seen  one  which  was  made  entirely  of  steel, 
like  a  cuirass,  and  which  opened  at  one  side  with 
hinges.  Tight  boots,  with  high  pegs  under  the 
centre  of  the  foot  instead  of  heels ;  hoops  in  the 
days  of  George  II.,  crinolines  in  the  time  of  Victoria, 
poisonous  metallic  paints  covering  the  face,  neck, 
and  arms,  and  a  hundred  other  absurdities,  all  had 
their  advocates  and  their  '  reasons.' 

Among  the  reasons  which  the  groom  urges  in 
favour  of  clipping,  and  which  his  master  accepts  as 
true,  is  that  it  is  impossible  to  keep  his  horse  dry 
if  it  be  allowed  to  retain  its  winter  coat,  and  that  it 
is  almost  impossible  to  clean  the  horse  from  mud 
after  he  has  been  out  on  a  wet  day. 

Here  unwittingly  the  groom  betrays  the  real 
reason  of  his  advocacy  of  clipping.  He  is  saved 
trouble  by  it,  no  one  denying  that  it  is  easier  to 
clean  a  short-haired  than  a  long-haired  animal. 

The  wetness  of  which  the  groom  complains  is 
simply  the    result    of  imperfect    ventilation   in    the 


GROOMS   AND    OWNERS.  2 SI 

stable.  Now,  the  uneducated  classes  are,  as  a  rule, 
absolutely  ignorant  of  the  value  of  ventilation  in 
their  own  houses,  and  therefore  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  trouble  themselves  about  a  constant  supply 
of  fresh  air  in  the  stable. 

In  order  to  obtain  enough  air  for  its  enormous 
lungs,  the  horse  is  obliged  to  breathe  rapidly.  Then 
the  skin  comes  to  the  rescue  of  the  lungs,  the  func- 
tions of  the  skin  and  lungs  being  co-ordinate,  and  a 
copious  perspiration  is  the  result,  no  matter  what 
the  length  of  the  hair  may  be.  But,  in  the  morning, 
the  groom  finds  that  to  clean  and  dry  the  long-haired 
horse  is  a  tedious  business,  and  so  he  induces  his 
employer  to  have  the  horse  clipped  or  singed.  So 
universal  is  this  custom  that  as  a  rule  the  owners  of 
horses  would  as  soon  have  their  hoofs  unshod  as 
their  coats  undipped. 

Another  '  reason '  which  grooms  advance  for 
clipping  is,  that  the  horse  moves  much  more  freely 
after  than  before  the  operation,  because  it  is  relieved 
of  the  weight  of  superfluous  hair.  Mayhew  (p.  235), 
with  all  the  caution  of  a  man  of  science,  does  not 
actually  deny  that  such  an  effect  may  be  produced 
by  clipping,  but  he  very  emphatically  says  that  he 
never  saw  it. 

Indeed,  if  the  hair  which  is  removed  by  clipping 
were  put  into  the  scales,  its  weight  would  prove  to 


282  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

be  very  trifling,  and  certainly  insufficient  to  make 
any  perceptible  difference  in  ease  of  movement. 
Moreover,  the  hair  so  removed  was  distributed  over 
the  whole  body  and  limbs,  and  not  hung  in  any  spot 
where  it  might  cause  hindrance  to  action. 

Yet  another  '  reason '  is  advanced  by  grooms. 
'  We  are  obliged  to  have  our  hair  cut  regularly,  and 
so  ought  the  horse.'  But  the  hair  of  man,  like  that 
of  the  mane  and  tail,  is  permanent,  and  not  deciduous, 
and  so  the  argument  is  beside  the  point  at  issue.  If 
we  were  gifted  with  summer  and  winter  heads  of 
hair,  there  might  be  some  force  in  it,  but,  as  the 
reader  will  easily  perceive,  the  two  cases  are  not 
parallel.  Moreover,  women,  as  a  rule,  wear  their 
hair  long. 

Mayhew  concludes  his  long  and  elaborate  indict- 
ment against  the  practice  with  the  following  words 
of  warning : — 

'  The  advent  of  the  summer  coat  is  delayed,  and 
the  system  seems  to  suffer  greatly  during  the  subse- 
quent period  of  changing  the  coat.  The  pace  flags, 
the  spirits  fail,  and  the  quadruped  becomes  more 
susceptible  to  disease  at  a  time  of  year  when  equine 
diseases  are  commonly  more  general  and  more 
virulent. 

'  The  master  who  makes  the  welfare  of  his  horse 
subservient  to  the  idle  prejudices  of  his  groom,  is 
fitly  punished  in  the  lengthened  period  of  his  animal's 


MAYHEW   OX  CLIPPING.  283 

compulsory  idleness,  appropriately  finished  by  the 
payment  of  a  long  bill  to  the  veterinary  surgeon.' 

Here  I  must  call  attention  to  another  point.  T 
have  already  mentioned  the  cautious  manner  in 
which  Mayhew,  as  a  man  of  science,  writes  when  he 
treats  of  a  subject  which  is  outside  his  peculiar 
province.  This  very  caution  gives  additional  weight 
to  the  absolute  decision  with  which  he  writes  when 
on  his  own  ground.  As  to  the  question  about  freedom 
of  movement  being  the  result  of  clipping,  no  matter 
how  absurd  such  a  statement  may  seem,  he  writes 
as  follows  : — '  This  may  be  the  fact,  although  the 
author  has  hitherto  seen  no  such  marked  change 
follow  the  operation  as  will  allow  him  to  deliberately 
corroborate  the  general  assertion.' 

But  when  he  treats  of  the  evils  which  clipping 
inflicts  upon  the  horse,  he  uses  no  such  caution,  but 
employs  the  most  direct  and  positive  language  : — 

'  Horses  which  have  been  clipped  or  singed  are 
(not  may  be)  rendered  more  susceptible  to  many 
terrible  disorders.  Any  internal  organ  may  be 
acutely  attacked,  because  the  perspiration  has  by 
exposure  of  the  skin  been  thrown  back  upon  the 
system.  Numerous  hunters  (which  animals  are 
always  clipped)  fail  (not  may  fail)  at  the  beginning 
of  the  season  from  this  cause.' 

This  is  the  voice  of  one  who  speaks  as  having 
authority. 


284  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

Clipping  is  quite  a  modern  invention,  and  was  in- 
troduced into  this  country  from  the  Continent  about 
1825,  our  officers  having  become  acquainted  with  it 
during  the  Peninsular  War. 

It  has  been  said  by  some  writers  on  the  subject, 
that  although  they  are  entirely  opposed  to  clipping, 
and  would  never  allow  a  horse  to  be  clipped  if  they 
had  been  in  charge  of  it  from  the  first,  yet,  if  a  horse 
be  once  clipped,  it  is  impossible  to  discontinue  the 
practice,  as  the  coat  will  become  rough  and  staring. 

I  confess  that  I  cannot  agree  with  this  axiom, 
nor  understand  the  theory  on  which  it  is  based.  The 
coat  of  the  horse  is  changed  in  accordance  with 
the  season  of  the  year,  and  no  matter  what  may 
be  the  ill-treatment  of  the  coat  of  one  year,  it  cannot 
affect  that  of  the  next  year. 

Some  thirty  years  ago,  when  common  sense  began 
to  prevail  over  conventionality,  and  men  began  to 
ask  themselves  whether  their  Creator  made  their 
beards  for  the  purpose  of  having  them  cut  off  daily, 
a  similar  reason  was  urged  against  the  abandonment 
of  the  razor.  It  was  all  very  well  for  youths  who 
never  had  shaved,  as  their  moustaches  and  beards 
would  possess  a  most  becoming  gloss  and  silkiness. 
But,  when  once  the  razor  had  cut  off  the  original 
hairs,  the  after  growth  would  be  coarse  and  stubbly. 

This  was  a  very  plausible  argument,  and,  until 


THE    BEARD    OF    MAN.  285 

examined,  seemed  to  be  carried  out  by  facts.  It  was 
true  that  the  first  growth  of  a  beard  is  soft  and  silky. 
It  was  equally  true  that  when  a  man's  beard  is  of  two 
or  three  days'  growth  after  shaving,  it  is  coarse  and 
harsh,  and  if  the  beard  be  a  dark  and  stiff  one,  looks 
very  much  like  a  ragged  blacking  brush.  But,  when 
the  beard  has  grown  to  the  length  which  it  would  have 
attained  if  its  wearer  had  never  shaved,  it  will  be  just 
as  soft  and  silky  as  if  it '  never  had  known  the  barber's 
shears.' 

If  this  be  the  case  with  the  permanent  hairs  of 
the  human  beard,  which  are  analogous  to  those  of 
the  horse's  mane,  much  more  so  must  it  hold  good 
with  the  deciduous  hairs  of  the  horse's  body.  We 
find  exactly  the  same  in  birds,  the  perfection  of  whose 
plumage  after  moulting  is  not  in  the  least  marred  by 
injuries  done  to  the  feathers  before  the  moult. 

Boys  who  for  the  first  time  own  a  magpie  or  a 
jackdaw,  generally  discover  this  fact  by  experience. 
As  soon  as  they  obtain  possession  of  their  bird  they 
clip  its  wings,  and  are  under  the  impression  that  they 
have  prevented  it  from  flying  during  the  remainder 
of  its  life.  But,  unless  the  boy  has  managed,  as  he 
ought  to  do,  to  attach  his  bird  to  himself  so  thoroughly 
that  it  does  not  wish  to  leave  him,  he  will  find  that 
after  the  moult  is  complete,  the  bird  regains  the 
whole  of  his  plumage,  and  can  fly  as  well  as  ever. 


286  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

A  younger  brother  of  mine  fell  a  victim  to  his 
ignorance  of  this  part  of  natural  history. 

When  a  boy,  he  became  the  happy  possessor  of 
a  jackdaw,  and,  having  heard  that  the  wings  of  birds 
ought  to  be  clipped,  he  proceeded  to  clip  them, 
carrying  out  the  work  most  conscientiously.  He  cut 
off  the  feathers  of  both  wings  close  to  the  liinb,  and 
the  tail  close  to  the  body,  beside  snipping  away  here 
and  there  feathers  which  looked  too  obtrusive,  and 
was  as  satisfied  with  his  work  as  is  a  farrier  after 
scooping  out  a  hoof. 

Soon  afterwards  came  the  moulting  season,  when, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  the  bird  regained  its  plumage, 
and  flew  away. 

All  the  cutting  and  clipping  to  which  the  feathers 
had  been  subjected  had  no  effect  upon  the  next  suit 
of  feathers,  and  neither  does  clipping  have  any  effect 
on  the  next  set  of  hairs.  I  lay  some  stress  on  this 
fact  because  many  persons  have  been  dissuaded  from 
the  abandonment  of  clipping  because  they  have  been 
told  that  if  the  practice  be  once  began,  it  cannot  be 
relinquished  without  making  the  coat  rough  and 
staring.  Similarly,  many  persons  who  have  been 
accustomed  to  shave  are  afraid  to  abandon  the  razor, 
because  they  have  been  told  that  their  beards  will 
be  coarse,  dry,  and  rough. 


287 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 

The  lungs  of  the  horse  and  their  comparative  size — Their  shape  and 
position — Their  demand  for  air — Defective  stables — Ventilation — A 
ehining  coat — The  stomach  of  the  horse  and  its  small  size — Comparison 
with  the  stomach  of  the  ox — Mistakes  in  feeding — Result  of  overload- 
ing the  stomach — Experience  of  a  veterinary  surgeon — Water,  when 
to  give,  and  how  much — Traditions  of  trainers — A  Turkish  custom — 
Purity  of  water  and  water  vessels — Sloping  floors  and  their  evils — 
The  locomotive  and  the  horse  again — A  sloping  couch — The  manger 
and  drinking  trough — Structure  of  the  head  aud  throat — The  stable 
door — Width  of  stalls — '  Weaving '  and  crib-biting — The  electric 
manger. 

In  the  last  chapter  I  had  occasion  to  mention  the 
ill-ventilation  which  is  the  rule  in  most  stables.  This 
brings  us  to  another  and  most  important  point  in  the 
management  of  the  horse.  In  this  work  I  have  been 
careful  not  to  trouble  the  reader  with  needless 
anatomical  details,  and  have  only  given  those  which 
bear  directly  upon  the  relationship  between  man  aid 
the  horse.  Putting  aside  the  heart,  which  is  less 
liable  than  any  of  the  internal  organs  to  be  injured 
by  man's  mismanagement,  we  find  two  internal  organs 
of  equal  importance — namely,  the  lungs  and  the 
stomach.     Supposing  we  were  to  split  a  horse  longi- 


288  HORSE  AND   MAN. 

tudinally,  there  are  very  few  persons  who  would  not 
be  surprised  at  the  enormous  dimensions  of  the  lungs 
and  the  very  small  size  of  the  stomach. 

Supposing  a  water-melon  to  represent  the  lungs, 
an  orange  would  represent  the  stomach.  Or  suppos- 
ing that  we  take  the  word  '  Do,'  the  capital  letter 
would  in  size  and  shape  represent  the  lungs,  and  the 
small  '  o  '  would  equally  correspond  to  the  stomach. 
Then  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  lun^s  are  double 
organs,  while  the  stomach  is  single,  so  that  the  dis- 
crepancy in  their  comparative  sizes  is  enhanced. 

Both  these  organs  are  mismanaged  by  man,  but  in 
opposite  ways,  one  having  its  necessary  supplies  cut 
short,  and  the  other  being  supplied  with  more  nou- 
rishment than  it  can  assimilate  at  the  time. 

First  we  will  take  the  Lungs. 

If  we  examine  the  size  of  the  lungs  when  compared 
with  the  body  of  any  mammal,  we  shall  find  that  the 
larger  the  lung,  the  higher  is  the  vitality,  and,  in  con- 
sequence, the  more  air  has  to  be  consumed. 

Now,  in  the  horse,  the  lungs  are  simply  enormous. 
Their  outline  very  much  resembles  that  of  the  capital 
letter  D,  except  that  the  upper  corner  requires  to  be 
lengthened  upwards  to  the  right.  Perhaps  a  better 
idea  of  the  outline  may  be  obtained  from  the  national 
harp  as  shown  on  the  Irish  shield  of  the  present  florin. 
This  harp  must  be  large  enough  to  reach  beyond  the 


LUNGS   OF   THE    HORSE.  289 

withers  backwards,  then  extend  diagonally  to  the 
elbow,  and  then  upwards  to  the  junction  of  the  neck 
with  the  breast. 

Let  the  reader  turn  to  the  skeleton  on  page  3, 
and  then  draw  a  line  from  the  top  of  the  rib  just 
below  c,  and  continue  it  diagonally  to  I.  This  line 
will  represent  the  '  sound-board '  of  the  harp,  the 
*  pillar  '  occupying  the  front  of  the  chest,  and  the 
'  neck  '  running  under  the  spine.  Nearly  the  whole 
of  the  cavity  of  the  ribs  in  front  of  the  '  sound-board ' 
is  filled  with  the  lungs. 

So  enormous  a  structure  indicates  that  the  supply 
of  fresh  air  ought  to  be  correspondingly  great,  and 
that  there  shall  be  means  of  escape  for  the  air  which 
has  been  breathed,  and  in  consequence  is  not  only 
useless  for  respiration  but  absolutely  poisonous. 

Yet,  in  how  few  stables  do  we  find  even  an  approach 
to  systematic  ventilation?  The  reason  is  evident 
enough.  In  the  first  place,  a  stable  is  considered  so 
simple  an  edifice  that  any  one  can  build  it.  Ac- 
cordingly we  find  that,  as  a  rule,  the  architecture 
of  a  stable  is  about  on  a  par  with  that  of  a  house 
which  a  child  builds  with  his  box  of  wooden 
bricks. 

The  typical  stable  is  an  oblong  box  of  bricks, 
divided  into  two  storeys,  the  upper  being  used  as  a 
hay-loft,  and  connected  with  the  stable  by  a  ladder 

u 


290  HORSE    AND    MAN. 

and  a  trap-door.  At  the  end  is  the  door,  and  on  one 
side  is  a  little  window.  Opposite  the  door  is  the 
manger,  and  above  the  manger  is  an  open  rack,  into 
which  hay  can  be  pushed  from  above. 

The  floor  slopes  from  the  manger  so  as  to  carry 
off  moisture  into  a  gutter  which  runs  at  right  angles 
with  it,  and  then  the  builder  thinks  that  he  has  pro- 
duced everything  that  a  horse  ought  to  require.  In 
point  of  fact,  however,  if  he  had  deliberately  set  him- 
self to  undermine  the  horse's  health,  he  could  not 
have  been  more  successful. 

But  no  one  expects  that  the  builder  of  a  stable 
is  likely  to  know  anything  of  the  structure  of  a 
horse,  or,  if  he  did,  to  depart  from  the  rules  of 
custom. 

The  builder  has  no  idea  of  the  true  functions  of 
respiration,  or  of  the  poisonous  character  of  air  that 
has  been  once  breathed.  So  he  makes  no  provision  for 
the  admission  of  fresh  atmosphere  nor  for  the  escape 
of  foul  air.  He  neither  knows  nor  cares  that  the  air 
which  has  been  breathed,  additionally  laden  with  the 
pungent  ammoniacal  vapour  that  fills  an  unventilated 
stable,  passes  through  the  hay  in  the  rack  and  thence 
into  the  hay  in  the  loft,  infecting  them  both. 

It  is  nothing  to  him  that  lungs  were  not  intended 
to  breathe  effete  air  or  the  vapour  of  ammonia.  It 
is  nothing  to  him  that  the  small  size  of  the  windows 


STABLES.  291 

keeps  the  horse  in  semi-darkness,  so  that  he  is  half 
blinded  when  he  goes  into  it  on  a  bright  day,  and 
quite  dazzled  when  he  comes  out.  It  is  nothing  to 
him  that  the  sloping  floor  is  a  perpetual  strain  upon 
the  muscles  of  the  legs  during  the  time  when  they 
ou"ht  to  be  at  rest.  He  has  built  his  stable  as  stables 
always  have  been  built,  and  the  creature  which  is  to 
inhabit  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  him. 

One  of  the  chief  difficulties  with  which  an  owner 
of  horses  has  to  contend  when  he  desires  ventilation 
is,  that  the  groom,  as  a  rule,  dislikes  ventilation,  and 
cannot  distinguish  between  fresh  air  and  a  draught. 
One  of  the  evils  of  imperfect  ventilation  has  already 
been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  custom  of 
clipping. 

The  groom  will  tell  you  that  a  *  warm ' — i.e.  a  close 
— stable  makes  a  horse's  coat  shine  like  satin.  So  it 
does ;  but  as  it  mostly  kills  the  horse,  the  benefit  is 
rather  doubtful,  and  reminds  one  of  Charles  Lamb's 
Chinaman,  who  burned  down  his  house  whenever  he 
wanted  to  roast  a  pig. 

It  would  be  better  for  the  horse  to  live,  as  the 
North  American  pony  lives,  in  a  far  severer  climate 
than  ours,  never  to  be  housed  and  never  to  be  groomed, 
than  to  pass  more  than  half  its  time  in  such  a  pesti- 
lential atmosphere  as  that  of  an  ordinary  stable  when 
managed  by  an  ordinary  groom. 

TJ  2 


292  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

After  glancing  at  the  lungs,  we  come  to  the 
Stomach. 

In  proportion  to  the  size  and  weight  of  the 
animal,  the  dimensions  of  the  stomach  are  wonder- 
fully small,  the  combination  of  large  lungs  and  small 
stomach  showing  that  the  animal  is  intended  for 
speed  as  well  as  strength. 

I  am  quite  sure  that  not  one  groom  in  a  hundred 
(or  say  a  thousand)  has  the  faintest  idea  of  the  differ- 
ence in  size  and  structure  between  the  stomach  of 
a  horse  and  that  of  an  ox,  or  that  the  mode  of  feed- 
ing is  essentially  different.  Yet  there  are  plenty  of 
horses  and  oxen  feeding  in  pasture  lands  which  can 
be  seen  by  any  one  who  has  the  use  of  eyes. 

The  ox,  having  no  teeth  in  the  front  of  the 
upper  jaw,  simply  squeezes  a  tuft  of  grass  between 
the  lower  incisor  teeth  and  the  hard  pad  which 
takes  their  place  in  the  upper  jaw,  and  with  a  sort 
of  jerk  tears  off  the  herbage — '  licks  up  the  grass,' 
according  to  the  Scriptural  phrase.  The  tuft  of 
grass  thus  torn  away  is  roughly  bitten  into  a  sort 
of  ball,  and  passed  into  the  curious  set  of  chambers 
into  which  the  stomach  is  divided.  When  the  animal 
has  obtained  a  sufficient  supply  of  grass  for  a  meal, 
it  lies  down,  and  returns  the  food  by  degrees  into  the 
mouth,  and  then  masticates  it. 

But  the  horse,  with  his  single  and  small  stomach, 


STOMACH   OF   THE   HORSE  293 

feeds  on  a  different  plan.  It  is  always  on  the  move, 
selecting  and  nipping  the  grass  blades  as  it  walks 
along,  and  masticating  the  food  before  it  swallows 
it.  Thus,  the  ox  feeds  while  still  and  recumbent, 
while  the  horse  always  eats  while  moving,  and  never 
while  recumbent. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  horse  ought  to 
be  fed  frequently,  and  not  in  very  great  quantities 
at  each  meal.  The  groom,  not  being  aware  of  this 
fact,  is  too  apt  to  cut  oft  the  supply  of  food  before 
a  journey,  in  order  to  make  the  horse  '  travel  light.' 
Then,  after  the  journey,  wishing  to  be  kind  to  the 
horse,  he  gives  it  a  double  feed  by  way  of  reward. 

The  natural  consequence  is,  that  the  animal, 
ravenous  with  hunger,  eats  too  rapidly,  overloads 
its  stomach,  and  suffers  accordingly.  Even  human 
beings,  in  spite  of  knowing  better,  will  do  the  same 
unless  restrained  by  others,  and  we  cannot  expect  a 
horse  to  be  wiser  than  a  man.  Cases  are  not  un- 
known where  the  coats  of  the  stomach  have  given 
way,  and  the  horse  has  died  in  consequence  of  the 
injury. 

Sometimes,  especially  in  agricultural  districts,  a 
peculiar  disease  is  produced  by  overloading  the 
stomach,  and  generally  makes  its  appearance  on 
Monday  morning. 

Both  the  horse  and  the  labourer  who  is  in  charge 


294  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

of  it  are  at  work  in  the  field  for  twelve  or  fifteen 
hours  daily  throughout  the  week.  The  man  is  natu- 
rally so  wearied  with  the  day's  toil,  that  after  the 
work  is  over  he  is  fit  for  nothing  but  to  take  his 
supper  and  go  to  bed,  where  he  instantly  falls  asleep, 
and  does  not  awake  until  it  is  time  for  his  next  day's 
labour  to  commence.  Even  on  Sundays  he  has  to 
look  after  his  horses,  so  that  he  does  not  even  get 
the  one  day's  rest  in  seven  to  which  he  is  entitled. 

So  it  often  happens  that  the  man,  not  knowing 
the  distinction  between  the  structure  of  the  horse 
and  that  of  himself,  supplies  the  animal  on  Saturday 
night  with  enough  food  and  water  to  last  until 
Monday  morning,  and  then  has  the  Sunday  to  him- 
self. On  the  Monday,  when  he  goes  to  the  stable, 
he  finds  the  horse  with  one  of  its  legs  swollen  beyond 
all  compass,  and  held  off  the  ground  ;  all  the  water 
gone,  and  the  animal  half  mad  with  thirst. 

Even  with  the  most  careful  attendance,  many 
days  must  pass  before  the  horse  is  again  fit  for  work. 
We  can  hardly  blame  the  man,  who  treats  the  horse 
as  he  himself  would  like  to  be  treated — i.e.  by  being 
supplied  with  plenty  to  eat  and  drink,  and  left  to 
undisturbed  repose  for  the  whole  day. 

The  man  has  acted  in  sheer  ignorance,  and  so  far 
is  free  from  blame.  But  why  should  he  be  ignorant 
of  so  simple  a  matter  ?     The  real  fault  lies  with  the 


DRINKING    ON   A   JOURNEY.  295 

owner,  who  has  entrusted  his  horse  to  a  man  without 
having  ascertained  that  his  subordinate  knows  any- 
thing about  the  animal. 

So  universal  is  this  custom  of  keeping  the  horse 
too  long  without  food  and  then  trying  to  make  up 
by  over-feeding  it,  that  even  in  high- class  stables 
there  are  few  horses  which  have  not  more  or  less 
suffered  from  it.  A  veterinary  surgeon  of  long  ex- 
perience stated  that  he  '  never  dissected  the  carcase 
of  an  aged  animal  without  finding  the  capacity  of  the 
stomach  morbidly  enlarged,  and  the  walls  of  the 
viscus  rendered  dangerously  thin  by  repeated  dis- 
tension.' 

A  groom  who  knows  anything  of  the  structure 
of  the  horse  will  always  bear  in  mind  the  all-important 
maxim  in  feeding  the  horse — i.e.  little  and  often. 

Then  there  comes  the  question  of  the  amount  of 
water  which  a  horse  ought  to  have,  and  when  it 
ought  to  have  it.  The  answer  is  simple  enough. 
Let  the  animal  drink  when  it  likes  and  as  much  as  it- 
likes,  and  it  will  never  damage  its  stomach  by  over- 
drinking. 

In  this  country  there  still  prevails  an  idea,  or 
rather  a  superstition,  that  if  a  horse  be  allowed  to 
drink  freely  before  starting  on  a  journey,  he  will 
become  broken-winded  by  the  end  of  it.  I  say 
especially  '  in  this  country,'  because  in  America  no 


296  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

such  prejudice  exists.  As  might  naturally  be  sup- 
posed, the  deprivation  of  water  conduces  to  the 
very  evil  which  it  was  intended  to  prevent.  When 
the  thirsty  animal  does  get  at  the  water,  it  drinks 
eagerly  and  rapidly,  just  as  a  thirsty  man  would 
do,  and  so  causes  the  stomach  to  be  abnormally 
distended. 

The  Americans  seem  to  have  taken  a  leaf  out  of 
the  Turk's  book,  as  far  as  the  giving  of  water  is  con- 
cerned. 

'  While  on  the  subject  of  horses,  let  me  say  a  few 
words  upon  their  management  by  the  Turks. 

'  First  of  all,  a  Turk  never  is  wantonly  cruel  to 
any  beast.  He  never  strikes  nor  spurs  a  horse  in  a 
rage,  and  his  movements  are  so  quiet  and  collected, 
that  a  horse  soon  forgets  all  fear  with  him,  and  to 
find  a  restive  horse  is  rare  indeed. 

*  Whenever  a  Turk  passes  water,  winter  or  sum- 
mer, he  lets  his  horse  drink  as  much  as  it  wants ;  but 
when  he  has  done  so,  he  rides  it  on  fast  at  once,  and 
never  lets  it  stand  still  after  drinking.  If  possible, 
he  gives  it  its  fill  of  water  half  an  hour  before  the 
end  of  its  journey.  Directly  he  dismounts,  he  loosens 
the  girths,  and  then  leads  the  horse  about  till  it  is 
quite  cool.  It  is  then  put  in  the  stable  with  the 
saddle  on,  and  this  is  not  taken  off  for  an  hour  or 
more.     When   this  is  done,  and  when  he  has  had 


TRAINING.  297 

water  on  his  way  home,  he  never  "  breaks  out,"  and 
never  refuses  his  feed. 

'It  is  a  British  prejudice,  and  a  very  cruel  one, 
not  to  let  a  horse  drink  when  he  is  thirsty.  If  any 
of  my  readers  have  a  horse  that  does  not  feed  when 
he  comes  in  from  a  day's  hunting,  let  him  try  the 
Turkish  plan.' — H.  C.  Barkley,  '  Five  Years  in 
Bulgaria.' 

Not  so  many  years  ago  the  same  idea  prevailed 
in  connection  with  the  training  of  competitors  in 
athletic  sports. 

As  some  of  my  readers  may  have  personal  reasons 
for  remembering  if  they  have  rowed  in  a  college 
boat-race,  one  of  the  chief  duties  of  the  trainer  was 
to  dole  out  liquids  to  his  men  as  if  they  were  adrift 
on  the  ocean  with  a  scanty  supply  of  water.  The 
men  were  kept  in  a  perpetual  state  of  raging  thirst, 
so  that  on  the  day  when  the  traditional  black  draught 
had  to  be  administered,  they  almost  flew  at  it  because 
it  was  liquid. 

At  the  present  time,  the  trainers,  being  educated 
men,  have  seen  the  absurdity  of  a  process  which  was 
invented  by  the  ignorant  prize-fighting  set  of  a  century 
ago,  and  have  gradually  emancipated  their  charges 
from  the  incessant  physicings,  '  training  mixtures,' 
semi-raw  beef,  total  deprivation  of  vegetables,  and 
the  chary  doles  of  '  old,'  i.e.   hard  ale,  which   con- 


298  HORSE   AM)    MAN. 

stituted  the  whole  of  their  liquid  nourishment.  No 
wonder  that  so  many  broke  down  under  the  process 
of  '  going  through  the  mill '  as  it  was  called,  and  that 
their  constitutions  were  permanently  injured. 

But,  when  horses  are  concerned,  the  training  is 
very  little  improved,  the  trainers,  as  a  rule,  being 
illiterate  men,  and  therefore  clinging  to  the  traditions 
of  their  forefathers.  Grooms  and  others  who  are  in 
charge  of  horses  naturally  look  up  to  the  managers 
of  racing  stables  as  superior  beings,  and  accept  un- 
conditionally any  of  their  dicta  as  necessarily  in- 
fallible. 

It  is  time,  however,  that  we  should  fling  aside  all 
those  traditions,  and  that  in  England,  as  in  America, 
a  horse  shall  no  longer  be  tortured  with  thirst  during 
his  work. 

In  many  large  establishments  the  horses  are 
allowed  to  drink  whenever  they  like  and  as  much  as 
they  like.  One  notable  example  is  to  be  found  in 
the  stables  of  Messrs.  Barclay  and  Perkins. 

When  a  horse  wishes  to  drink,  he  rattles  his 
halter  in  a  peculiar  manner  which  the  horses  learn 
from  each  other.  The  groom  in  attendance  knows 
the  signal,  and  lets  the  horse  loose.  The  animal  goes 
of  his  own  accord  to  the  water-troughs,  drinks  as 
much  as  he  wants,  and  then  returns  to  his  stable, 
without  requiring  an  attendant. 


HJEE   WATER.  299 

This  principle  is,  I  believe,  adopted  in  many- 
places,  but  I  mention  the  establishment  of  Messrs. 
Barclay  and  Perkins  because  I  have  been  eye-witness 
of  its  practical  working. 

Above  all,  the  water  and  the  vessel  in  which  it  is 
contained  must  be  scrupulously  clean.  Too  much 
attention  cannot  be  given  to  this  injunction,  especially 
in  stables  where  there  is  no  water  trough,  and  the 
pail  is  the  only  means  of  giving  the  horse  drink. 
Those  who  are  much  about  stables  will  understand 
what  I  mean.  No  nitre  or  other  farrier's  messes 
should  be  allowed  in  the  water. 

I  very  much  wish  that  a  few  boldly  drawn 
coloured  diagrams  could  be  issued,  showing  the 
principal  points  in  the  structure  of  the  horse's  foot, 
mouth,  lungs,  and  stomach  ;  that  it  should  be  incum- 
bent for  these  diagrams  to  be  kept  displayed  in  every 
stable,  and  that  no  one,  not  even  a  boy,  should 
be  allowed  the  management  of  a  horse  until  he  could 
show  that  he  was  familiar  with,  and  could  understand, 
the  diagrams. 

Among  the  many  faults  of  the  ordinary  stable,  I 
casually  mentioned  the  sloping  floor.  Of  course,  the 
object  of  this  slope  is  evident  enough,  and  it  is  also 
evident  that  if  the  floor  were  perfectly  level  it  would 
be  impossible  to  keep  the  stable  decently  clean.     But 


300  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

the  slope  is  in  the  wrong  direction,  and  its  effects 
upon  the  horse  are  simply  disastrous. 

As  long  as  the  horse  stands  or  lies  upon  a  floor 
that  slopes  backwards,  he  can  enjoy  no  real  rest. 
Suppose  that  we  revert  to  our  original  parallel 
between  a  horse  and  a  locomotive  engine,  and  sup- 
pose the  engine  to  be  placed  on  a  rising  incline.  The 
result  would  be  that  the  engine  would  immediately 
begin  to  roll  backwards ;  and  if  it  were  to  retain 
its  position,  it  must  keep  the  wheels  at  work  so  as 
to  counteract  the  incline.  I  do  not  think  that  we 
should  much  admire  the  wisdom  of  the  owner  of  the 
engine  if  he  were  to  station  it  all  night  upon  an 
incline,  so  as  to  keep  it  at  work,  and  wear  out  its 
machinery  merely  in  order  to  retain  its  position. 

Yet,  in  most  stables  the  horse  is  subjected  to 
precisely  similar  treatment.  By  the  force  of  gravity 
it  is  kept  perpetually  slipping  backwards,  and  can 
only  counteract  this  slipping  process  by  the  continual 
action  of  the  muscles. 

Let  any  one  try  it  for  himself.  Let  him  stand 
for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  upon  the  side  of  a  hill  and 
facing  the  slope.  He  will  very  soon  find  out  that, 
however  still  he  may  stand,  he  cannot  retain  his 
position  without  exerting  the  muscles  of  the  legs  to  a 
degree  which  every  minute  renders  more  irksome. 
Now  let  him  turn  in  the   opposite  direction,  and  he 


SLOPING   FLOORS.  301 

will  find  that  the  relief  will  be  instantaneous,  and 
that  he  need  not  use  one-tenth  of  the  exertion  which 
is  required  in  the  former  position. 

Instinctively  the  horse  knows  this  fact  as  well  as 
man  does  by  means  of  reason,  and  when  the  animal 
is  at  liberty  on  sloping  ground,  the  animal  invariably 
stands  so  that  the  fore-feet  are  lower  than  the  hinder 
pair. 

Even  when  the  horse  lies  down  for  its  night's  rest, 
matters  are  not  mended.  Let  the  reader  try  to  sleep 
on  a  sloping  bed,  and  he  may  have  some  idea  of  the 
feelings  of  a  horse  under  similar  circumstances. 

Of  course  there  must  be  drainage,  and  the  drains 
must  slope  downwards.  But  there  is  not  the  least 
necessity  that  though  the  drains  slope,  the  floor 
should  slope  also ;  and  any  one  who  possesses  the 
least  smattering  of  sanitary  engineering  can  drain 
a  stable  more  effectually  than  can  be  done  by  the 
present  system,  and  yet  can  keep  the  floor  level,  so 
as  to  make  it  a  comfortable  resting  place  for  the 
horse,  whether  the  animal  be  standing  or  lying. 

There  is  one  point  more  on  which  I  should  like 
to  touch,  though  it  is  not  nearly  so  important  as  those 
which  have  been  already  mentioned.  This  is  the 
position  of  the  manger  and  drinking  trough.  For 
many   years   I   have   felt    certain    that   both   these 


302  HOESE   AND   MAN". 

accessories  to  the  stable  are  placed  much  too  high 
for  the  convenience  of  the  horse,  but  should  scarcely 
have  felt  courageous  enough  to  publish  my  idea, 
had  not  several  acknowledged  '  horsey '  authorities 
expressed  the  same  opinion. 

Watch  a  horse  feeding  and  drinking  when  he  is 
at  liberty,  and  you  will  see  that  when  he  feeds  his 
nose  is  on  a  level  with  his  fore-hoofs,  and  that  when 
he  drinks  it  is  below  them.  The  whole  structure  of 
his  head,  neck,  throat,  and  especially  that  of  the 
veins  of  the  neck,  indicates  the  position  which  the 
head  was  intended  to  assume  when  the  horse  was 
eating  or  drinking.  Yet  we  put  the  hay  into  a  rack 
above  the  level  of  his  head,  throw  the  oats,  beans, 
&c,  into  a  manger  on  a  level  with  his  breast,  and 
pour  the  water  into  a  trough  on  the  same  level  as 
the  manger.  In  the  model  stable,  the  manger  would 
be  on  a  level  with  the  floor,  and  the  running  water  in 
a  trough  a  little  below  it. 

One  more  defect  of  ordinary  stables  has  yet  to  be 
mentioned.  The  door  is,  as  a  rule,  much  too  small, 
both  in  width  and  height,  especially  the  former. 
This  is  not  of  so  great  importance  when  the  horse  is 
entering  the  stable,  as  when  it  is  coming  out.  A 
high-spirited  animal,  which  has  passed  some  eight 
hours  in  the  stable,  is  full  of  spring  and  joyfulness 


1  WEAVING.'  303 

when  brought  out  into  the  air,  and  dances,  rather 
than  walks,  through  the  door.  If  the  doorway  be 
too  narrow  or  too  low,  the  animal  is  apt  to  strike 
itself  against  the  door-post,  and  so  to  break  one  of 
the  projecting  portions  of  the  hip  bone.  It  is  true 
that  if  a  groom  places  himself  in  front  of  the  horse 
and  backs  out  of  the  stable,  leading  the  horse  after 
him,  he  will  take  the  animal  safely  through  a  very 
narrow  doorway.  But  it  is  never  right  to  trust  the 
discretion  of  a  subordinate  when  the  welfare  of  the 
horse  is  at  stake,  especially  when  a  mere  enlarge- 
ment of  the  doorway  will  make  it  safe  even  for  a 
restive  horse  and  a  careless  groom. 

There  are  many  other  defects  in  ordinary  stables, 
such,  for  example,  as  the  narrowness  of  the  stalls, 
which  is  the  primary  cause  of  *  weaving  ' — i.e.  fidget- 
ting,  crib-biting,  and  other  '  vices  '  of  the  stable. 

As  for  weaving,  all  imprisoned  animals  weave 
in  one  way  or  another,  as  any  one  may  see  by 
visiting  the  Zoological  Gardens.  It  is  their  only 
mode  of  relieving  the  intolerable  monotony  of  their 
existence.  There  is  just  now  a  wolf  which  has 
invented  a  totally  new  method  of  weaving.  He  goes 
to  the  back  of  the  cage,  runs  a  pace  or  two,  jumps 
into  the  air  with  outspread  and  stiffened  legs,  and 
comes  down  so  as  to  slide  as  far  as  the  bars. 

There  is  really  no  great  harm  in  weaving,  any 


304  HORSE    AND   MAN. 

more  than  there  is  in  a  child  swinging  its  legs  if 
compelled  to  sit  still  on  a  form  or  chair  when  its 
natural  instinct  urges  it  to  run,  and  jump,  and  shout, 
in  order  to  let  off  its  superabundant  energy. 

In  the  one  case  the  groom,  and  in  the  other  the 
teacher,  looks  upon  these  restless  movements  as  a 
sort  of  wilful  vice,  which  must  be  checked  by  punish- 
ment. Yet,  the  fault  does  not  lie  with  the  horse  or 
child,  but  with  those  who  deprived  it  of  its  natural 
amount  of  exercise. 

As  to  crib-biting,  a  vice  which  is  mostly  thought 
to  be  incurable,  it  is  almost  wholly  caused  by  the 
narrowness  of  the  stall,  and  the  confinement  of  the 
movements  of  the  animal.  I  never  heard  of  a  horse 
beginning  this  vice  in  a  loose  box.  It  may  from 
custom  continue  it,  though  the  reason  for  it  has 
been  taken  away ;  but,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  evil 
habit  has  never  originated  in  a  stable  where  the  horse 
could  move  about. 

I  have  seen  a  very  ingenious  form  of  manger, 
which  was  invented  in  order  to  cure  horses  which 
were  given  to  crib -biting.  A  galvanic  battery  was 
connected  with  metallic  plates  which  ran  above  and 
below  the  edge  of  the  manger.  As  long  as  the  horse 
uses  the  manger  for  its  legitimate  purposes,  he  has 
no  reason  for  supposing  that  it  is  not  like  any  other 
manger,  but,  as  soon  as  he  seizes  the  edge  with  his 


ELECTRIC    MANGER.  305 

teeth,  he  forms  a  connection  between  the  upper  and 
lower  plates,  and  receives  a  shock  which  makes  him 
loosen  his  hold.  It  is  not  strong  enough  to  injure 
the  animal,  but  quite  strong  enough  to  impress  on 
his  mind  that  mangers  are  not  meant  to  be  bitten, 
and  that  if  he  bites  a  manger  it  will  avenge  itself. 
This  invention  was  shown  me  by  Messrs.  Martingale, 
of  158  Piccadilly. 


x 


306  HORSE   AND    MAN. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  horse  and  the  locomotive  again — '  Vice  '  in  horses  and  its  invariable 
cause — Mayhew's  opinion — Vice  in  cavalry  horses — The  soldier  and 
the  '  irreclaimable  '  savage — New  mode  of  treatment — Apparent 
failure  and  ultimate  success — A  relapse  when  in  strange  hands — 
Another  '  irreclaimable  '  savage — Story  of  '  Fly,'  '  The  Baroness,' 
and  '  War  Eagle,'  all  three  being  New  Zealand  horses — The  horse's 
capacity  for  affection — Its  peculiar  love  for  man — The  horse  a 
gregarious  animal  —Bulgarian  horses — '  Spoiled  '  horses — The  horse's 
desire  to  obey  man — A  circus  horse — Gilpin  redivivus — Cavalry 
horses  and  their  habits  of  obedience — The  old  horse  at  a  review — 
Disbanded  horses  in  a  thunderstorm — The  14th  Hussars  at  the  Cape 
— Escape  of  their  horses — An  amateur  review  without  officers — 
Muster  of  loose  and  wounded  horses  after  battle — Mr.  Luck's  horse — 
Imprisoned  in  winter — Endurance  of  the  horse — '  Sam '  and  his  tricks. 

Throughout  this  work  comparisons  have  been  drawn 
between  the  horse  and  the  locomotive  engine.  It  is 
worthy  of  notice  that  whereas  the  driver  of  an 
engine  comes  to  look  upon  it  as  a  living  creature, 
always  talks  of  it  as  '  she,'  and  treats  it  as  if  it 
were  possessed  of  feeling  and  intelligence,  too  many 
drivers  or  managers  of  horses  look  upon  them  as 
machines  which  can  only  be  made  to  work  by  hard 
words  and  harder  blows. 

They    think — or,   rather,    they    assume,    as    the 
ignorant  always  do  in  lieu  of  thinking — that  horses 


RULING   BY   KINDNESS.  307 

and  men  are  naturally  antagonistic  to  each  other ; 
that  the  horse  is  always  trying  to  thwart  the  man, 
and  that  it  will  only  work  when  compelled  by  the 
terror  of  the  lash.  They  act  on  this  assumption,  and 
the  natural  consequence  is,  that  there  is  a  perpetual 
struggle  between  them  and  the  horses  which  are  under 
their  control. 

Of  course  there  are  exceptions,  but,  as  every  one 
will  admit  who  has  had  experience  of  grooms, 
stablemen,  and  drivers,  whether  in  country  or  in 
town,  brutality  is  the  rule,  and  kindness  the  excep- 
tion. It  must  be  said  on  behalf  of  the  men  that 
they  have  the  excuse  of  ignorance.  They  have  been 
brought  up  to  the  idea  that  a  horse  can  only  be 
ruled  by  fear.  They  have  never  seen  any  other 
mode  adopted,  and  naturally  refuse  to  believe  that 
any  other  mode  is  possible. 

I  have  often  wondered  why,  even  for  their  own 
sakes,  those  who  have  the  charge  of  horses  do  not 
invariably  treat  them  with  kindness.  It  is  so  much 
easier  to  manage  a  horse  that  is  loving,  confiding, 
docile,  and  obedient,  than  one  which  goes  in  con- 
stant fear  of  its  attendant,  and  has  to  be  coerced 
into  every  action,  that  a  groom  who  deliberately 
makes  a  horse  afraid  of  him  is  infinitely  more  foolish 
than  the  poor  beast  which  has  no  choice  in  the 
matter. 

x2 


308  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

For  my  part,  the  longer  I  live  the  more  fully 
I  am  convinced  that  '  vice '  in  a  horse  signifies 
cruelty  on  the  part  of  man.  Vice  forms  no  part  of 
a  horse's  normal  constitution.  No  horse  is  born 
with  a  desire  (like  Mr.  Winkle's  natural  taste  for 
perjury)  for  kicking  or  biting  human  beings.  An 
'  irreclaimable '  savage  is  made,  not  born,  and  the 
most  painful  feature  in  the  case  is,  that  the  fiercest 
savages  are  invariably  high-spirited  and  sensitive 
animals. 

All  horses  are  not  alike,  as  the  ordinary  groom 
thinks,  any  more  than  all  boys  are  alike,  as  the 
ordinary  schoolmaster  thinks,  or  at  least  used  to 
think.  There  is  as  much  variety  in  the  characters  of 
horses  as  of  boys,  and  the  schoolmaster  or  the  groom 
who  tries  to  convert  his  charges  into  machines  will 
always  find  himself  in  difficulties  with  the  pick  of 
the  school  or  stable.  It  is  the  sensitiveness  and  Irish 
spirit  of  a  horse  that  convert  it  into  a  savage,  when 
treated  with  persistent  brutal  cruelty.  The  dull- 
witted  horse  submits  and  suffers,  but  the  high-spirited 
animal  rebels  against  such  treatment,  and  soon  learns 
that  if  it  can  do  no  more,  it  can  at  all  events  have 
the  gratification  of  making  its  groom  afraid  of  it. 
And,  as  the  groom  is  the  only  human  being  with 
whom  it  is  brought  into  contact,  we  need  not  be 
surprised  if  it  is  unable  to  distinguish  his   conduct 


*  CRUISER.'  309 

as  that  of  an  individual,  and  in  consequence  con- 
siders that  the  whole  of  the  human  race  is  in  league 
against  it. 

I  used  the  term  '  irreclaimable '  as  applied  to  a 
savage  horse,  but  enclosed  the  epithet  in  inverted 
commas  to  show  that  it  is  a  word  to  which  exception 
can  be  made.  I  do  not  consider  any  horse,  however 
savage,  to  be  irreclaimable,  but  believe  that  if  brutal 
and  ignorant  men  have  converted  the  horse  into  a 
savage,  gentle  and  wise  men  can  reclaim  him  from 
his  savagery.  Two  more  '  irreclaimable '  savages 
never  lived  than  the  celebrated  horses  '  Stafford  '  and 
'  Cruiser,'  the  latter  being  about  as  safe  to  approach 
in  the  stable  as  a  ti^er  in  his  den. 

Lord  Dorchester,  the  owner  of '  Cruiser,'  stated  in 
a  letter  to  the  Times  that  until  Earey  took  the  animal 
in  hand  he  had  not  been  ridden  for  three  years,  and 
that  it  was  necessary  to  keep  an  iron  muzzle  always 
on  his  jaws.  His  paroxysms  of  rage  would  last  for 
several  days  together,  during  which  time  no  man 
dared  approach  him.  He  has  been  known  out  of 
sheer  frenzy  to  kneel  on  the  ground  and  tear  up  the 
road  with  his  teeth. 

Yet,  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that  both  these  ani- 
mals were  reclaimed  in  a  very  short  time,  and  by  the 
sheer  power  of  kindness.  I  never  saw  '  Stafford,' 
but  with  '  Cruiser  '  I  was  on  familiar  terms,  the  beau- 


310  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

tiful  animal  being  as  gentle  and  playful  as  a  kitten, 
and  quite  as  craving  for  human  notice.  These 
qualities  were  not  implanted  by  Earey.  They  ex- 
isted already,  but  had  lain  in  abeyance  until  Earey's 
gentle  sway  evoked  them,  and  but  for  him  would 
never  have  been  suspected. 

Mayhew  and  Lupton  speak  very  strongly  on  this 
subject  in  their  work  on  '  Horse  Management : ' — 

'When  a  horse  is  tenderly  and  kindly  looked 
after,  it  is  difficult  to  form  any  conception  of  how 
interesting  and  intelligent  he  becomes,  watching  his 
groom's  every  movement  in  the  stable  day  after  day 
and  week  after  week,  until  he  knows  as  well  as  the 
man  himself  what  is  next  to  be  done.  How  patiently 
such  a  horse  will  stand  to  be  cleaned  or  saddled,  and 
how  eagerly  will  he  turn  round  to  have  his  head 
groomed  or  to  be  bitted,  and  how  grateful  is  he  but 
for  a  crust  of  bread,  a  handful  of  oats,  a  mouthful  of 
hay,  or  even  a  kind  word,  when  spoken  in  a  kindly 
tone  by  his  master. 

'  When  such  a  man  enters  the  stable  the  horse 
receives  him  with  a  neigh  of  welcome,  pawing  the 
ground  with  his  forefoot  until  the  master  is  alongside 
of  him  and  pats  him  on  the  neck  encouragingly. 

'As  good  masters  make  good  servants,  so  do 
good  kind  grooms  make  good  and  affectionate  horses. 
I  do  not  mean  the  man  who  makes  the  horse's  coat 


MAYIIEW    AND    LUrTON.  311 

shine  like  satin,  for  drugs  will  give  him  a  glossy  coat 
while  they  undermine  his  constitution  I  refer  to 
the  groom  who,  in  addition  to  the  lustrous  look  of 
the  animals  in  his  care,  is  never  heard  yelling  at 
them  to  "  stand  over,"  or  "  come  round,"  who  is  assi- 
duous in  his  attentions  upon  them  ;  who,  recognising 
in  them  the  possession  of  virtues  and  passions,  and 
but  scarcely  less  reasoning  powers  than  he  possesses 
himself,  will  never  even  commit  an  outrage  upon 
their  feelings,  far  less  deny  them  merciful  treat- 
ment.5 

I  have  received  many  accounts  of  cavalry  horses, 
showing  the  advantages  to  horse  and  rider  of  kindness 
on  the  part  of  the  latter.  If  any  man  could  have  an 
excuse  for  being  impatient  with  a  horse,  it  is  the 
cavalry  soldier.  He  cannot  spend  as  much  time  on 
his  horse  as  he  likes  or  when  he  likes.  His  time  is 
meted  out  to  him  like  his  rations,  and  if  within  the 
given  time  he  cannot  produce  his  horse  in  a  fit  state 
to  pass  his  superior  officer's  eye,  he  has  to  sutler 
for  it. 

So  an  ignorant  man,  who  has  always  been  used 
to  seeing  horses  ruled  by  force,  may  be  pardoned  for 
carrying  out  his  work  in  the  only  manner  which  he 
knows.  But  he  has  imposed  upon  himself  a  task 
which  is  far  more  severe  than  would  have  fallen  to 
him  had  he  ruled  his  horse  by  kindness.     Here  is 


312  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

one  of  the  many  narratives  that  have  been  sent  to 
me,  the  writer  in  this  case  being  the  soldier  himself. 
As,  however,  he  was  unused  to  composition,  he  was 
needlessly  diffuse  and  encumbered  with  moral  reflec- 
tions, as  is  the  way  with  inexperienced  writers.  I  have 
therefore  condensed  his  account  and  narrated  it  in 
the  third  instead  of  the  first  person.  I  may  mention 
that  the  writer  gives  the  names  of  the  lieutenant- 
colonel  in  command,  his  major,  his  captain,  and  his 
adjutant,  as  references  if  they  should  be  required. 

He  enlisted  as  a  mere  lad  in  a  dragoon  regiment, 
and  after  some  three  years  of  service  found  that 
his  horse  was  not  spirited  enough  for  him.  There 
happened  to  be  in  the  same  stable  a  very  splendid 
horse,  which  was  unfortunately  so  ferocious  that  the 
men  were  afraid  of  it  as  an  irreclaimable  savage  and 
hated  it. 

The  soldier  had  noticed  that  his  comrades  were 
apt  to  avenge  themselves  on  the  horse  when  they 
could  do  so  with  safety,  and  thought  that  a  different 
treatment  might  improve  its  temper.  So  he  asked 
the  troop  sergeant-major  to  let  him  have  a  trial,  and, 
if  he  succeeded,  to  exchange  the  horse  for  his  own. 

The  sergeant-major  very  properly  remonstrated 
with  him,  saying  that  the  horse  had  injured  several 
men  severely,  and  that  his  life  would  be  endangered 
if  he  meddled  with  it.     He  also  added  the  curiously 


A   CAVALRY  HORSE.  313 

grim  military  aphorism,  that  soldiers  are  wanted  for 
service  and  not  as  corpses  or  patients  in  hospital. 
However,  he  at  last  reluctantly  gave  his  consent. 

The  man  at  once  went  to  take  possession  of  his 
new  charge,  and  almost  immediately  verified  the 
sergeant-major's  predictions.  He  had  hardly  begun 
to  groom  the  horse,  when  it  seized  him  by  the  side, 
lifted  him  from  the  ground,  and  banged  him  against 
the  manger.  He  was  rescued  by  his  comrades,  and 
though  much  bruised,  was  not  seriously  hurt. 

The  other  men  wanted  him  to  beat  the  horse 
severely  as  a  punishment  for  its  conduct,  but  he 
steadily  refused,  and  tried  to  conciliate  the  animal 
by  kindness.  It  was  some  time  before  the  horse 
could  be  made  to  understand  that  his  new  master 
did  not  intend  to  hurt  him  ;  but  in  the  course  of 
a  month  or  two  the  animal's  feeling-s  underwent  an 
entire  revulsion,  and  it  conceived  the  strongest  affec- 
tion for  its  master,  following  him  like  a  dog,  and 
allowing  him  to  do  anything  with  it. 

After  a  while,  the  soldier  had  a  furlough  of  six 
weeks,  and  went  away,  begging  his  comrades  to  treat 
the  horse  kindly,  feed  it  well,  and  not  trouble  them- 
selves about  dressing  it,  an  operation  which  it  had 
always  resented. 

He  had  only  been  away  a  day  or  two  when  he 
received  a  letter  saying  his  horse  was  in  hospital. 


314  HORSE    AND    MAN. 

On  his  return,  he  asked  to  see  the  animal,  which  had 
evidently  returned  to  its  vicious  ways,  and  was 
challenged  to  enter  its  box  without  speaking.  He 
unhesitatingly  did  so,  and  was  cordially  greeted  by 
the  horse,  who  knew  his  step. 

He  was  allowed  to  take  the  horse  to  the  troop 
stables,  and  found  it  in  reality  so  well  and  strong, 
that  two  days  afterwards  it  carried  him  through  one 
of  the  late  Lord  Cardigan's  very  trying  field  days  with 
even  more  than  ordinary  vigour. 

It  was  found  afterwards  that  the  horse,  as  is 
usually  the  case,  had  been  made  vicious  by  brutal 
treatment.  He  was  a  well-bred,  high-spirited  animal, 
and  had  been  placed  in  the  regiment  when  very 
young.  He  was  fortunate  enough  at  first  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  a  kind  master  who  made  a  pet  of  him, 
and  in  consequence  he  was  docile  and  affectionate. 
But  his  master  died,  and  he  fell  into  the  hands  of 
men  who  looked  upon  a  horse  merely  as  a  machine, 
and  could  not  understand  that  it  possessed  feelings. 

Not  having  been  accustomed  to  ill-usage,  the  horse 
naturally  resented  it,  and  before  long  had  learned  to 
look  upon  man  as  its  natural  enemy,  which  could  only 
be  kept  from  hurting  it  by  being  made  afraid  of  it. 
But,  when  at  last  a  man  refused  to  avenge  himself  as 
he  might  have  done,  and  resumed  the  kind  treatment 
to  which  it  had  been  accustomed,  its  better  nature 


'  FLY.'  315 

revived,  and  it  became  docile  and  affectionate  to  its 
friend,  though  it  still  remained  suspicious  of  others. 

Another  history  of  a  savage  horse  I  give  in  the 
writer's  own  language  : — 

1  St.  Kilda :  Melbourne. 

'  While  in  New  Zealand,  I  purchased  from  Aus- 
tralia a  thoroughbred  filly,  "Fly."  On  attempting 
to  mount  her,  I  saw  from  the  set  of  her  back,  the 
white  of  her  eye,  and  the  twist  of  her  neck  that  she 
was  a  dangerous  animal,  and,  being  at  the  time  deli- 
cate and  nervous,  I  sent  her  to  Mr.  E 's  racing 

stables,  to  be  ridden  by  one  of  his  jockeys. 

'  She  threw  her  first  rider,  C ,  three  times  in  one 

day.  He  had  known  her  in  Australia,  and  remarked 
that  he  would  as  soon  see  the  devil  come  into  his 
stables  as  "  Fly."  In  a  fortnight  she  was  returned  to 
me  with  a  note  to  say  that  she  would  never  be  fit  for 
any  but  a  bold,  strong  rider,  and  that  she  must  never 
have  much  rest. 

'  Still,  in  every  other  respect  she  was  so  much  to 
my  taste,  that  I  did  not  like  parting  with  her  without 
another  trial.  So  I  fondled  her,  talked  to  her,  got 
half  on  and  then  down  several  times,  so  that  she 
might  not  be  afraid  of  me  ;  and  when  I  did  at  last 
mount,  I  sat  quite  still  until  she  was  inclined  to 
move. 

*  From  that  day  no  quieter  animal  could  exist 


316  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

with  me.  Unsaddled,  and  with  only  a  halter  instead 
of  a  bit,  she  would  carry  me  anywhere.  Once,  a 
child  ran  under  her  feet.  The  thing  was  so  sudden 
that  I  was  powerless,  but  she  at  once  stopped,  and 
held  up  her  hind  leg  so  as  not  to  hurt  the  child. 
Yet,  when  I  was  obliged  to  sell  her  no  one  could  ride 
or  do  anything  with  her. 

1  There  were  two  other  horses,  "  The  Baroness  " 
and  "  War  Eagle,"  that  were  perfectly  quiet  with  me, 
but  would  carry  no  one  else  without  putting  them  to 
great  trouble,  not  to  say  danger.  People  wondered 
how  I  made  my  horses  so  showy  and  cheerful,  and 
yet  so  gentle  and  docile.  The  secret  is  simple  enough. 
Kindness,  sympathy,  and  patience.  I  am  never  un- 
kind to  any  animal,  and  they  seem  to  know  it. — B.  S. 
Creasy.' 

There  is  one  point  in  the  horse's  character  winch 
the  ordinary  groom  invariably  ignores.  This  is  the 
animal's  extraordinary  capacity  for  affection.  He 
must  love  something,  man  in  preference  to  any  other 
being.  In  default  of  man,  he  will  naturally  be  best 
pleased  with  the  society  of  his  own  kind.  He  is 
essentially  as  gregarious  an  animal  as  the  sheep,  and 
in  the  wild  state  is  never  found  alone.  In  North 
America,  as  is  well  known,  the  horses  always  assemble 
in  large  droves,  and  even  in  the  semi-wild  state  to 


HALF-WILD    HORSES.  317 

which  the  horse  recedes  in  Bulgaria,  the  horses  obey 
the  same  instinct.  Mr.  H.  C.  Barkley,  in  his  '  Five 
Years  in  Bulgaria,'  takes  notice  of  this  fact : — 

'  The  great  droves  of  horses  and  cattle,  and  flocks 
of  sheep,  give  the  plain  a  very  pretty  appearance. 
As  for  the  horses,  they  are  but  little  trouble,  for  in 
winter  and  summer  they  feed  themselves  on  the  open 
plains,  and  there  increase  and  multiply.  They  go 
about  in  droves  of  about  thirty,  with  one  stallion  who 
acts  as  master  over  all,  and  keeps  them  in  order. 
Woe  betide  a  young  lady  who  casts  sheep's  eyes 
towards  a  neighbouring  drove,  or  a  colt  who  wishes 
to  enlarge  his  mind  by  an  interchange  of  ideas  with 
the  young  bloods  of  another  family.  The  vicious- 
looking  old  husband  and  father  trots  quietly  up  to 
the  delinquent,  and  either  takes  at  one  bite  about 
a  pound  of  flesh  out  of  its  neck,  or  gives  it  a  kick  on 
the  hocks  that  reduces  it  to  three  legs  for  a  week.' 

It  is  sheer  cruelty  to  box  up  horses  after  they 
have  done  their  work,  and  to  keep  them  from  com- 
municating with  their  own  kind. 

Were  there  any  other  inducement  to  make  man 
sympathetic  with  the  horse,  and  to  '  gentle  '  it,  as 
the  Americans  say,  instead  of  '  breaking  '  it  as  we 
say  in  England,  it  is  the  greater  amount  of  work 
which  can  be  got  out  of  a  horse  by  treating  him 
kindly.     Everyone  who  is  conversant  with  nautical 


318  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

matters  knows  how  much  more  work  is  done  by- 
sailors  who  'pull  with  a  will,'  than  by  those  who 
merely  pull  under  compulsion,  and  in  this  respect 
horses  are  very  much  like  men. 

Not  that  horses  should  be  over-indulged  or 
'  spoiled.'  They  are  none  the  happier  for  it,  but, 
like  spoiled  dogs  and  children,  are  always  wilful 
and  discontented.  A  ship's  crew  needs  that  the 
captain  shall  be  firm  as  well  as  kind,  and  that  his 
orders  must  be  instantaneously  obeyed.  It  is  good 
that  mercy  should  temper  justice,  but  unless  justice 
be  paramount,  mercy  becomes  a  cruel  weakness. 
So  the  horse  must  never  be  allowed  to  feel  for  a 
moment  that  he  can  have  his  own  way  in  defiance 
of  his  owner's  will.  With  the  horse  as  with  man, 
'  service  is  perfect  freedom,'  and  both  are  the  happier 
when  this  principle  is  carried  out. 

In  fact,  the  horse  wants  to  obey  man,  and  if  its 
master  will  let  the  animal  know  his  wishes,  it  will 
obey  him,  even  though  he  may  not  be  present.  From 
among  many  examples  of  this  fact,  I  select  one  or 
two,  premising  that  as  some  of  the  personages  are 
still  living,  the  narrator  among  the  number,  I  employ 
initials.  All  the  names,  however,  are  given  fully  in 
the  original  manuscript,  and  the  writer  is  a  gentleman 
of  widespread  literary  fame  : — 

1  When  I  was  a  boy,  I  lived  at  R in  Cornwall. 


A   NEW   JOHN    GILPIN".  319 

A  circus  came  there,  and,  a  breakage  having  occurred 
in  some  of  the  iron  work,  it  was  repaired  by  A. 
M .  The  proprietor  of  the  circus  went  off  with- 
out paying,  and  was  followed  by  his  creditor,  who  at 
last  consented  to  accept  a  horse  in  lieu  of  money. 
So  the  horse,  a  piebald  one,  such  as  are  often  found 
in  a  circus,  was  taken  back  to  E . 

'  A  few  days  afterwards,  the  new  owner  having  to 
settle  an  account  at  some  little  distance,  determined 
to  ride  there.  All  went  well  until  he  arrived  at  his 
destination,  when,  seeing  a  circular  flower-bed,  with 
a  gravel  path  round  it,  the  horse  took  it  into  his 
head  that  the  path  was  a  circus,  and  accordingly 
dashed  into  it,  and  began  to  gallop  round  and  round 
in  circus  fashion. 

'  Poor  A ,  a  short,  stout  man,  and    a   very 

bad  rider,  clung  to  the  horse's  neck,  and  then  sud- 
denly realised  the  fact  that  he  was  enacting  the  part 
of  John  Gilpin.  Meanwhile,  off  flew  his  hat,  strictly 
according  to  the  part ;  the  enraged  gardener  held  up 
his  spade  and  tried  to  stop  the  horse,  and  save  the 
flowers,  which  were  being  kicked  to  pieces,  and 
hurled  right  and  left.     The  worst  of  it  was  that  the 

proprietor  of  the  house  and  garden,  Mr.  S ,  was 

looking  on  from  an  upper  window. 

'  Presently  the  horse  stopped,  and  A hoped 

to  get  down.     But  there  was  no  such  luck  for  him. 


320  HORSE   AND   MAX. 

The  horse  had  only  completed  the  number  of  rounds 
which  would  bring  him  to  the  Calenderer's  door,  and 
presently  started  off  again.  Not  until  he  had  finished 
the  full  number  of  circuits  did  he  stop,  and  then 
stood  as  quiet  as  a  lamb. 

■  His  miserable  master,  flushed,  dishevelled,  and 
full  of  shame,  was  then  shown  into  the  very  room 

where    Mr.    S had    witnessed    the    adventure. 

In  his  confusion  he  tried  to  stammer  out  some  sort 
of  apology  for  the  mischief  which  he  had  wrought. 

Mr.    S ,    however,    so    far    from    being    angry, 

begged  him  to  come  and  repeat  the  performance  as 
often  as  he  liked,  for  to  see  a  real  John  Gilpin  was 
worth  all  the  flowers  in  the  garden. 

'  For  some  days  afterwards,  the  horse  was  safely 
kept  in  the  stable,  but  as  a  fair  was  to  be  held  at 

a  neighbouring  village,  C ,  the  horse  was  sent, 

not  ridden  there,  and  placed  in  a  shed,  while  A 

went  into  the  fair  to  find  a  purchaser.  When  he 
returned,  the  horse  was  gone,  and  so  was  a  window 
at  the  end  of  the  shed.  Pieces  of  wood  and  glass 
were  seen  scattered  outside,  and  it  was  evident  that 
the  horse  must  have  leaped  through  it  into  a  large 
field. 

'  On  looking  through  the  window,  the  horse  was 
seen  at  the  farther  end  of  the  field,  careering  round 
and  round  as  before,  to  the  admiration  of  a  crowd 


COACH   HORSES.  321 

of  spectators.  No  one  could  stop  him  until  lie  had 
finished  his  task,  although  four  men  were  offered 
sixpence  each  to  catch  him.  The  worst  of  it  was 
that  he  was  so  cut  and  wounded  by  the  broken  glass, 
that  he  was  re-sold  for  a  trifle  to  the  proprietor  of 
the  circus.' 

Perhaps  the  horse  was  happier  in  the  restricted 
life  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed,  than  in  the 
comparative  liberty  of  the  road.  The  account  was 
sent  to  a  nephew  of  the  unwilling  John  Gilpin,  and 
corroborated  by  him  before  it  was  transmitted  to  me. 

A  similar  act  of  conscientious  duty  on  the  part 
of  the  horse  was  lately  told  me  by  a  gentleman 
whose  father  witnessed  the  occurrence. 

About  sixty  years  ago  the  Blandford  four-horse 
mail  coach  came  in  as  usual,  but  without  coachman, 
guard,  or  passengers.  It  was  noticed  that  the  horses 
galloped  up  the  street  at  full  speed,  this  being  the 
etiquette  at  the  conclusion  of  every  stage,  turned 
through  the  narrow  archway  leading  to  the  inn 
where  they  were  accustomed  to  stop,  and  pulled  up 
without  the  slightest  mishap. 

The  difficulty  of  this  task  can  only  be  understood 
by  those  who  have  undertaken  it.  To  take  a  carriage 
and  pair  through  a  narrow  gateway  is  by  no  means 
easy,  and  requires  considerable  practice.  In  the 
case   of  four   horses,   the   difficulty   is    more    than 

Y 


322  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

doubled.  Yet  the  horses  achieved  the  task  without 
any  help,  their  memory  having  served  them  in  lieu 
of  the  coachman's  guidance. 

On  inquiry,  it  turned  out  that  when  the  horses 
were  changed  at  the  preceding  change,  and  the 
coach  deserted  for  a  time,  the  team  had  taken  the 
coach  into  their  own  management.  A  feeble  old 
ostler  was  at  their  heads,  but  he  said  that  when  he 
caught  at  the  reins  the  horses  whisked  him  out  of 
the  way  '  like  a  ninepin,'  and  never  could  have 
stopped  until  they  pulled  up  at  the  inn  at  Bland- 
ford. 

As  in  the  John  Gilpin  case,  the  obedient  cha- 
racter of  the  horse  is  sometimes  apt  to  give  a  very 
ludicrous  and  scarcely  dignified  aspect  to  the  adven- 
ture in  which  the  animal  is  engaged. 

Some  years  ago  a  chaise  horse  was  bought  by  a 
Nonconforming  minister,  and  employed  in  the  some- 
what staid,  though  easy  task,  of  conveying  him  to 
and  fro  on  his  labours.  After  a  few  years  of  such 
work,  the  man  died,  and  the  chaise  was  then  driven 
by  his  widow,  who  had  the  misfortune  of  being 
stone  deaf. 

One  clay  a  review  took  place  at  some  little 
distance  from  her  house  at  Weymouth,  and  the  old 
lady  insisted  on  going  to  see  it,  and  driving  the 
chaise  herself. 


THE   OLD   SOLDIEE.  323 

She  was  seated  in  the  chaise,  looking  at  the 
manoeuvres,  when  her  horse  suddenly  bolted,  and 
to  her  great  terror  made  straight  for  a  cavalry  regi- 
ment which  was  on  the  ground.  The  horse  had 
heard  a  sound  which  he  knew,  and  which  she,  owing 
to  her  deafness,  did  not  hear,  and  would  not  have 
understood  if  she  had  heard  it. 

It  was  a  call  from  the  cavalry  bugle,  one  of  the 
preparatory  orders  before  a  charge.  The  command- 
ing officer  saw  the  state  of  things,  opened  out  his 
men  right  and  left,  and  in  dashed  the  horse  to  his 
right  place.  He  took  the  correct  alignment,  and 
stood  ready  for  the  next  order,  which  followed 
immediately. 

The  cavalry  charged,  and  so  did  the  old  lady,  the 
horse  being  in  the  proper  place,  she  and  the  chaise 
being  in  the  rear.  The  horse  would  not  leave  the 
regiment,  and  his  mistress  would  not  leave  the  chaise, 
and  throughout  the  manoeuvres,  horse,  old  lady,  and 
chaise  did  their  part,  the  horse  knowing  the  bugle 
calls  as  well  as  any  of  the  men,  though  so  many 
years  had  elapsed  since  he  had  heard  them. 

When  the  review  was  over,  the  delighted  officers 
thronged  round  the  old  horse,  and  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  buy  him  and  keep  him  as  a  regimental 
pet  for  the  rest  of  his  days.  His  mistress,  however, 
refused  to  part  with  him,  and  so  she  kept  the  old 

T  2 


324  HOESE   AND   MAN. 

grey,  but  never  again  took  him  within  sound  of  a 
cavalry  bugle. 

The  history  of  this  adventure  was  sent  to  me 
by  a  relative  of  the  resolute  old  heroine,  who,  in  spite 
of  her  natural  alarm  at  the  unexpected  movements, 
refused  to  abandon  her  seat  in  the  carriage,  or  to 
part  with  the  old  friend  who  had  been  her  companion 
for  so  many  years. 

This  is  not  a  book  of  anecdotes,  and  so  I 
will  only  briefly  mention  two  instances  illustrative 
of  the  principle  of  obedience  which  is  so  charac- 
teristic of  the  animal,  both  belonging  to  the  cavalry 
horse. 

At  the  end  of  the  Peninsular  War,  a  Yorkshire 
cavalry  regiment  was  disbanded,  and  the  horses  put 
up  for  sale.  The  commanding  officer,  a  wealthy 
Yorkshire  gentleman,  could  not  bear  the  idea  that 
his  old  companions  in  battle  should  pass  into  the 
possession  of  men  who  would  not  appreciate  them 
nor  understand  their  ways.  He  therefore  bought 
them  all,  and  purchased  a  large  paddock,  in  which 
they  might  pass  the  rest  of  their  lives  in  honourable 
retirement. 

They  had  remained  in  the  paddock  for  some 
years,  when  a  violent  thunderstorm  took  place. 
The  animals  mistook  the  rolling  thunder  for  the 
roar  of  cannon,  and   the  lightning  for  the  flashes  of 


A   STAMPEDE.  325 

the  guns.  Their  old  habits  of  military  obedience 
returned,  and  they  voluntarily  assembled  and  ranged 
themselves  in  battle  order. 

A  somewhat  similar  instance  occurred  only  a 
few  years  ago,  and  is  recorded  by  the  well-known 
writer  who  employs  the  nom  de  plume  of  'Rapier'  in 
the  Illustrated  Sporting  and  Dramatic  News.  The 
account  appeared  in  the  issue  of  August  2,  1884  : — 

' A  soldier  friend,  who  has  been  quartered  in  the 
Transvaal  and  Basutoland,  was  the  other  day  telling 
me  of  some  of  his  Cape  experiences,  amongst  which 
one  particularly  interested  me.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  I  cannot  remember  whether  it  was  just  after  the 
Zulu  or  Boer  campaign,  but  at  all  events  it  had  to 
do  with  the  14th  Hussars,  who  were  in  camp  near 
Newcastle. 

'  This  regiment  had  brought  its  horses  from  India, 
many  of  them  being  stallions,  and  consequently  of 
high  courage.  One  fine  night,  disturbed  either  by 
flies  or  the  bright  moon,  a  dozen  or  so  broke  from 
the  picketing  lines,  and,  careering  through  the  others, 
caused  a  regular  stampede,  so  that  in  a  few  seconds 
the  whole  regiment  of  horses  was  loose  and  galloping 
wildly  towards  the  river,  which  was  crossed  in  safety, 
some  hitting  on  the  ford,  but  the  greater  part 
mming. 

'  On  the  far  side  was  a  "  veldt "  or  open  space, 


326  HORSE   AND    MAN. 

where  the  regiment  drilled  daily,  and  here  a  very 
remarkable  thing  happened. 

1  Where  there  had  been  chaos  and  blind  uncer- 
tainty, perfect  order  supervened.  Forming  up  into 
troops  and  squadrons  in  their  accustomed  places,  the 
riderless  horses  proceeded  quietly  and  steadily  to  put 
themselves  through  a  number  of  evolutions ;  and  it 
was  not  until  the  arrival  of  the  troopers  with  ropes 
and  bridles  that  the  ghostly  pageant — for  such  it 
must  have  looked — broke  up  and  dispersed  to  the 
four  corners  of  the  earth.' — '  Kapler.' 

The  illustrated  newspapers  which  chronicled  the 
deeds  of  the  Germans  and  French  during  their 
terrible  war,  recorded  several  instances  in  which  the 
riderless,  wounded,  and  even  dying  horses  obeyed 
the  sound  of  the  bugle,  and  ranged  themselves  in 
order  after  the  battle  was  over. 

In  answer  to  some  queries  which  I  addressed  to 
him,  Mr.  Luck  kindly  sent  me  the  following  letter, 
which  arrived  too  late  for  insertion  in  its  proper 
place : — 

'Darlington:  October  3, 1884. 

*  My  cob  was  six  years  old  when  I  took  off  the 
shoes  in  May  1882,  and  had  the  thrush  in  all  his  feet. 
I  am  sorry  to  say  that  the  thrush  is  not  completely 
cured  in  his  off  fore-foot,  though  we  can   keep  it 


MR.    LUCKS    HORSE. 


327 


down,  but  it  returns  again  and  again.  I  ride  and 
drive  him  not  very  long  distances,  twenty-five  miles 
being  the  greatest  distance  he  is  called  upon  to  do 
in  a  day,  though  lie  has  sometimes  done  much  more. 
Last  week  I  drove  him  over  twenty  miles  a  day  for 
four  days  in  succession.  Our  roads  are  metalled 
with  a  stone  as  hard  as  granite,  and  of  course  in  the 


MR.  R.  A.  LUCK  S  HORSE,  FORE  LEGS  NEARLY  PERFECT. 

country  there  are  quantities  of  loose  stones.  I  en- 
close you  two  photos  taken  fifteen  months  after  the 
shoes  had  been  removed.     Of  course  the  hoofs  are 

much  better  shaped  now. 

'  Yours,  &c, 

<  E.  A.  Luck.' 


The  preceding  pages  were  sent  to  the  printer  just 


328  HOKSE  AM)   MAN. 

before  I  started  for  a  lecture-tour  in  America.  On 
the  return  voyage,  one  of  the  fortunate  passengers 
who  are  never  sea-sick,  occupied  a  seat  opposite  mine 
at  table.  We  naturally  became  rather  intimate,  and  I 
very  soon  found  out  that  he  was  specially  interested 
in  horses.  Being  himself  a  sailor,  he  was  not  much 
of  a  horseman,  but  was  very  fond  of  horses,  and  pro- 
bably knew  more  of  them  than  he  would  have  done 
if  he  had  been  brought  up  in  a  stable. 

Among  other  subjects  of  conversation  was  the 
careless  manner  in  which  stables  were  built,  and  the 
insufficient  supply  of  fresh  air.  Now,  as  Faraday 
has  shown,  the  enormous  lungs  of  a  horse  require 
more  air  than  would  be  sufficient  for  ten  human 
beings,  and  yet  we  find  that  almost  all  stables  are 
so  close  that  a  man  feels  half- stifled  when  he  enters 
them. 

I  happened  to  mention  the  fact  that  the  horses 
which  are  owned  by  the  North  American  Indians  do 
not  know  what  a  stable  means,  and  even  in  the  coldest 
weather  pass  their  whole  lives  in  the  open  air,  just 
as  they  would  do  if  they  were  wild  (see  Colonel 
Dodge's  account  of  the  Indian's  horse,  quoted  on  pages 
148  and  149). 

My  naval  friend  then  told  me  a  curious  adventure 
which  had  just  occurred  to  a  horse  which  he  knew 
well. 


'  JAMMED.'  329 

Last  January  (1885)  was  very  cold  in  Massachu- 
setts, and  all  traffic  was  conducted  by  means  of 
sleighs.  On  January  30,  a  horse  was  being  driven 
through  Cambridge,  when  it  took  fright  and  ran  away. 
It  upset  the  sleigh,  flinging  the  occupants  into  the 
snow,  and  then  dashed  off,  banging  the  over-turned 
sleigh  against  all  objects  that  came  in  its  path. 

Before  the  former  occupants  could  pick  themselves 
out  of  the  snow,  the  sleigh  and  horse  were  out  of 
sight.  Inquiries  were  made  for  them,  but  without 
any  success,  both  having  vanished  as  if  by  a  conjuring 
trick.  This  happened  on  a  Tuesday  morning,  and  not 
until  the  afternoon  of  the  following  Friday  were  the 
missing  horse  and  fragments  of  the  sleigh  discovered. 

o  o  o 

The  animal,  urged  by  the  blind  terror  which 
sometimes  takes  possession  of  a  horse,  had  dashed 
between  two  barns.  The  walls  of  the  barns  were  not 
quite  parallel,  but  slightly  sloped  inwards. 

So  the  horse  found  himself  in  a  wedge-shaped 
passage,  too  narrow,  in  fact,  to  allow  him  to  pass 
through  it.  When  he  tried  to  back  out  of  the  passage, 
he  was  stopped  by  the  broken  sleigh,  which  was 
firmly  jammed  crosswise  between  the  barns. 

The  weather  was  very  cold,  twenty  degrees  below 
freezing  point,  and  there  was  a  fierce  north-west  wind 
blowing.  Unfortunately  the  barns  were  built  in  a 
north-west   direction,   so    that  the  passage  between 


OoO  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

them  acted  as  a  funnel,  and  allowed  the  wind  to  blow 
with  double  fury  over  the  imprisoned  animal. 

There  the  poor  horse  remained,  having  nothing  to 
eat  or  drink,  no  covering,  and  the  furious  wind  blow- 
ing over  its  unprotected  body.  It  was  discovered 
accidentally,  and,  strangely  enough,  seemed  little  the 
worse  for  its  long  imprisonment.  Fortunately,  it  was 
a  horse  that  had  only  lately  been  imported  from  the 
West,  and  so  had  not  been  accustomed  to  the  hot 
stables  of  Few  England.  Moreover,  it  had  not  been 
clipped,  and,  therefore,  was  wearing  the  natural  great- 
coat which  is  provided  for  every  horse  at  the  end  of 
autumn. 

This  little  history  is  so  valuable  in  corroborating 
Colonel  Dodge's  account  of  the  horse's  power  of 
endurance,  that  I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  of 
including  it  in  this  book. 

On  my  return  home,  I  found  awaiting  me  a  vast  mass 
of  correspondence.  Among  the  letters  was  a  long  one 
from  Australia,  giving  accounts  of  several  pet  animals. 
One  of  these  animals  was  a  horse  named  '  Sam,'  who 
displayed  such  a  talent  for  '  jockeying'  his  owner,  after 
the  fashion  of  the  American  horse  mentioned  on  page 
259,  that  I  insert  it  here,  rather  than  omit  it  alto- 
gether. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  N.,  the  owner  of '  Sam,'  is  now  in 


1  SAM.'  331 

England,  and  has  corroborated  the  absolute  truth  of 
the  little  histories  : — 

* "  Sam  "  was  a  handsome,  flighty,  high-spirited 
roan,  with  black  points.  He  had  carried  his  master 
faithfully  during  some  ten  years  of  arduous  travelling, 
through  rivers  and  forests,  over  mountains  and 
trackless  country,  such  as  people  in  England  would 
never  dream  of,  much  less  think  of  riding  over. 

1  So  far,  all  had  gone  well,  but  on  one  unlucky 
day  "  Sam  "  lost  a  shoe,  and  before  any  blacksmith's 
forge  could  be  reached,  he  had  gone  so  lame,  that  it 
was  necessary  to  turn  him  out  to  grass.  His  owner, 
Mr.  N., procured  a  substitute,  and  "Sam"  was  left  for 
several  months  undisturbed  in  his  paddock. 

*  At  last,  Mr.'  N.  caught  him,  and  rode  him  some 
eight  or  ten  miles  to  the  blacksmith  to  have  him  shod, 
as  a  preliminary  to  resuming  the  usual  day's  work. 
They  reached  the  forge  comfortably  enough,  and  the 
horse  was  re-shod.  But  they  had  scarcely  proceeded 
a  couple  of  hundred  yards,  when  "  Sam  "  fell  dead 
lame,  his  head  bobbing  up  and  down,  and  his  whole 
demeanour  indicating  the  acutest  agony. 

'  Of  course,  common  humanity  required  that  the 
day's  expedition  should  be  given  up,  and  there  was  no 
choice  for  Mr.  N.  but  to  retrace  his  steps.  But,  0 
Miracle  !  No  sooner  was  "  Sam's  "  head  turned  home- 
wards, than  the  lameness  vanished. 


332  HORSE   AND   MAN. 

'Three  times  was  the  experiment  tried  with  precisely 
the  same  results,  when  it  occurred  to  Mr.  N.  to  com- 
promise the  matter,  and  by  taking  "  Sam  "  an  indirect 
way,  he  made  his  calls,  and  finished  his  journey  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  pai  ties.  "  Sam  "  was  evidently  aware 
that  he  was  indebted  to  his  lameness  for  his  holiday, 
and  had  feigned  lameness  for  the  sake  of  another  re- 
spite from  work,  but  was  not  clever  enough  to  carry 
out  the  deception  to  its  full  extent. 

'  Without  the  least  approach  to  vice,  "  Sam  "  was 
masterful  and  overbearing  with  regard  to  other  horses. 
On  one  occasion,  four  beside  himself  were  running  in 
the  same  paddock,  and  as  it  was  in  the  winter  time,  we 
were  accustomed  to  throw  down  five  large  bundles  of 
hay — one  for  each  horse. 

'  Now, "  Sam  "  made  it  a  point  of  honour  to  drive 
the  other  horses  from  their  food.  By  constant 
vigilance,  he  could  manage  to  keep  guard  over  three 
heaps  of  hay  beside  his  own,  but  the  fourth  was 
beyond  his  powers,  and  evidently  cost  him  great 
trouble  of  mind. 

'  One  day,  however,  a  sudden  inspiration  seized 
him.  As  soon  as  the  hay  was  brought,  he  dashed  at 
the  obnoxious  heap,  rolled  it  in  the  mud  so  as  to 
spoil  it,  and  then  returned  complacently  to  his  usual 
position. 

'  I  have  also  seen  "  Sam  "  when  in  want  of  water  go 


CLEVER   COMRADES.  338 

to  the  pump  and  work  the  handle  with  his  mouth, 
evidently  knowing  by  personal  observation  that  this 
was  the  mode  by  which  water  was  obtained. 

'His  companion  was  an  exceedingly  intelligent 
and  beautiful  white  pony,  and  the  two  were  so  clever 
at  opening  my  ordinary  fastening  to  the  garden-gate, 
that  a  complicated  arrangement  of  straps  had  to  be 
devised  in  order  to  keep  them  out. 

'  Under  the  pump  was  a  large  tank,  out  of  which 
they  were  accustomed  to  drink.  On  one  occasion  a 
washing-basin  had  been  left  in  the  tank.  The  two 
horses  undid  the  fastenings  of  the  gate,  let  themselves 
into  the  garden,  and  proceeded  as  usual  to  the  tank. 
They  objected  to  the  presence  of  the  unaccustomed 
basin,  took  it  out  of  the  tank  and  put  it  on  the  grass 
before  they  would  drink.' 


INDEX. 


ABY 

Abyssinian  hunting,  145 

Accidents,  118 

Aloes,  98 

Anchitheriuni,  14 

Ankle  of  horse,  19 

'Apollo,'  163 

Astley,  Mr.  A.  F.'s  horses,  158, 

&c. 
Attitude,  natural,  301 
Australian  mare  '  Fly,'  315 


Baker,  Me.  Whitmoke,  164,168 
Barclay  and  Perkins,  228,  298 
'  Baroness,'  316 
Bearing-rein,  199,  205 

—  American,  209 

—  diseases  caused  by,  220 

—  overhead,  209 

—  and  stumbling,  229 

—  summary,  240 
Bedouin-rein,  207 
Bellows,  Mr.  J.,  83 
Bergh,  Henry,  220 
Blacking  hoofs,  93 
Blandford  coach,  321 
Blinkers,  244 

Boot,  fashionable,  125 
Bowditch,  Mr.,  122 
Bowley,  Mr.  Samuel,  275 


COM 

Brakes  and  bearing-reins,  226 
Brierley,  Dr.,  180 
Bristol  carters,  231 
Brushing,  196 
'Buffers,' 214 
Bulgarian  horses,  317 
Burnaby,  Col.  Fred.,  156 
'Burr 'bit,  221 


Calks,  116 

—  in  America,  121 

—  effect  on  muscles,  126 
Carpus,  11 

Cavalry  horses,  311,  322 
Caves,  men  of  the,  17 
Character  of  the  horse,  248 
Charlier  shoe,  134 
Chapin,  Mr.  S.,  73 
Check-rein,  the,  206 
Children,  restless,  304 
Clever  comrades,  333 
Clicking,  196 
Climbing,  24 
Clipping,  277,  282 
'  Clips,'  89 

Coach,  Blandford,  321 
Coffin-bone,  15 
Coloured  diagrams,  21 
Comrades,  clever,  333 


336 


INDEX. 


COK 

Coronary  ring,  30,  44,  92 

Cracknel),  Mr.  E.,  232 

Creasy,  Mr.  R.  S.,  letter  of,  315 

Crib  biting,  304 

'  Cropping,'  246 

Cruelty  the  cause  of  vice,  308 

*  Cruiser,'  309 

Crupper,  the,  276 

Curb,  the,  202 

Curiosity  of  the  horse,  249 

Cutting,  196 


Deafness,  247 
Derby,  the,  4 
'  Dewdrops,'  60 
Diagrams,  coloured,  299 
Diseases,  caused  by  bearing-rein, 
220 

—  caused  by  shoe,  197 
Dixie,  Lady  Florence,  25 
<  Docking '  the  tail,  267 

'  Dolly  '  and  loose  stones,  60 
Door  of  stable,  302 
Drivers  of  engines,  224 

—  of  horses,  225 
Drugs,  96 

Duty,  sense  of,  319 
Duties,  reciprocal,  xvii. 


Ear,  the  horse's,  247 
Edinburgh  horses,  230 
Egyptians,  ancient,  203,  279 
Eight-hoofed  horse,  18 
Elbow  of  horse,  12 
Endurance  of  horse,  330 
Engine-drivers,  examination  of, 

224 
Exmoor  ponies,  24 
Expansion  of  hoof,  51 
Eye  of  the  horse,  260 
—  professional,  196 


HON 
Failures,  apparent,  192 
Falkland  Island  horse,  30 
Farriers,  directions  to,  57 
<  Fashion,'  200 
Fear,  rule  of,  307 
Femur,  18 
Fetlock,  angle  of,  33 

—  section  of,  40 
Fibula,  19 
Floors,  sloping,  299 
Flower,  Mr.  E.  F.,  199 
'Fly,' 315 
Foam-flinging,  217 
Foot,  human,  142 

'  Foundered '  horses,  64 
Frog,  the,  33 

—  paring  the,  66 

—  pressure  of,  67 

—  value  of,  68 


Gas  bearing-rein,  207 
1  Gentling,'  317 
Gerry,  Mr.,  letter  of,  133 
Gill,  Mr.  S.,  220 
Gilpin,  John,  319 
Grazing,  mode  of,  293 
Groom,  the  kindly,  311 


«  Hammel,'  69 
Happy  thoughts,  138 

—  more,  257 

Hartmann's  safety-pad,  74 
'  Haw,'  the,  263 

Head,  Sir  Francis,  234 

—  tossing  of,  217 
Heels,  opening,  61 
Helps,  Sir  Arthur,  218 
Hilly  roads,  230 
Hip-bone,  injury  to,  303 
Hipparion,  14 

Hock,  19 

*  Hogging  '  the  mane,  265 

Honour,  a  point  of,  332 


INDEX. 


noo 
Hoof,  the,  22 

—  alteration  of  shape,  188 

—  and  foot,  1 

—  difference  in,  179 

—  internal,  38 

—  loosened,  115 

—  offices  of,  27 

—  overgrown,  30,  193 

—  plasticity  of,  171 

—  of  wild  horse,  34 
Horse  and  ass,  265 
Horse-clothing,  A.merican,  27c 
Horse,  endurance  of,  329 

—  ferocious,  312 

—  home  of,  191 

—  without  man,  xvii. 
Hot-fitting:,  8b' 
Houghing,  19 

'  Humane,'  174 
Humerus,  10 


1  Impetuosities,'  239 
Impostor,  an,  258 
Imprisoned  horse,  329 
Indian  horses,  148 
India-rubber  tires,  70 
Infected  provender,  290 
Interfering,  196 
Irreclaimable  savages,  309 
Irreligion,  167 
Italian  horses,  181 


ORE 

Lameness,  sham,  331 
Laminae,  horny,  29,  45,  48 
—  vascular,  45,  124 
Ligaments  of  neck,  211 
Linea  alba,  48 
Llewellyn,  Dr.,  158 
Lockjaw,  270 
Luck,  Mr.,  horse  of,  320 
Ludgate  Hill,  79.  118 
Lungs  of  horse,  287 
'  Lurry  '  horses,  77 


'  Maccabees,'  4 
Mcllquham,  Mrs.,  270 
Man  without  horse,  xvii. 
Manchester  roads,  78 
Mane  of  the  horse,  264 
Manger,  electric,  305 
—  height  of,  302 
Manifesto,  important,  235 
Masters  and  men,  228 
Mayhew  on  clipping,  282 
Mechanism  of  walking,  53 
Memory  of  horse,  323 
Men  of  the  caves,  17 
Metacarpals,  15 
Metatarsals,  20 
'  Mill,  going  through  the,'  298 
Monday  morning,  293 
More  happy  thoughts,  257 
Mustangers,  23 


Jackdaw,  an  unhappy,  2S6 
'  Jockeying  '  the  driver,  258 
John  Gilpin,  319 
J. P.,  a  puzzled,  267 


«  Nature,'  201 
Navicular  hone,  41 
Neck,  ligaments  of,  211 
'  Nicking  '  the  tail,  272 
Nictitating  membrane,  263 


Kettee-drems  and  Rarey,  250 
Kindness,  rule  of,  307 
'  Knee  '  of  horse,  11 


Ointments,  95 
Olecranon,  11 
'  Orlando,'  4 


INDEX. 


OVE 

Over-feeding,  293 
Overgrown  hoofs,  30,  193 
Overhead-rein,  the,  209 


Pad,  safety,  74 
Palmerston,  Lord,  234 
Parkyns,  Mansfield,  145 
'  Pax-wax,'  211 
Pastern,  15 
Pelvis,  18 
Phalanges,  12 
Pharaoh's  chariot,  206 
Ponies,  Exmoor,  24,  153 
—  Indian,  148 
'  Pricking '  a  horse,  105 
'  Prince,'  182 

Professional  Eye,  the,  198 
Pulling  '  with  a  will,'  318 


Racing,  Indian,  151 

Radius,  10 

Rails,  sloping,  300 

Ransom,  Mr.  G.,  invention  of,  242 

Rarey's  system,  249,  309 

Reciprocal  duties,  xvii. 

Reclaimed  savage,  313 

Review,  a,  322,  325 

•  Roaring,'  237 

Runaway  horses,  233 

'  Running-rein,'  4 


'  Sam  '  and  his  tricks,  331 
Savages,  irreclaimable.  309 
Savage,  a  reclaimed,  313 
'Scaling 'birds,  261 
Scapula,  9 
Scotch  girls,  144 
Sea-shoes,  81 
Sesamoid  bones,  42 
Shaving,  279,  284 
Shaw,  Mr.,  horse  of,  234 
Shoe,  cause  of  diseases,  197 


J  A  M 

Shoe,  Charlier,  134 

—  Clark,  128 

—  Goodenough,  127 

—  jointed,  128 

—  object  of,  101 

—  parflecke,  103 

—  screw,  130 

—  straw,  103 

—  unilateral,  106,  132 

—  weight  of,  113 
Shoeing,  hot,  86 
Shoe-nails,  104,  108 
Shoes,  sea,  81 
Shoulder-blade,  9 

'  Showing  oft*'  engines,  222 

—  horses,  223 

Sidney, '  Book  of  the  Horse,'  209 
Singeing,  277 
Skeleton  of  horse,  3 
Slitting  birds'  tongues,  261 
Smith,  Mr.  Herbert,  185 
Soldiers,  311 
Soldier,  the  old,  322 
Sole,  the,  36 

—  paring  the,  58 
Spikes,  76 
Splint  bones,  17 
Spoiling  horses,  318 

Spring  of  railway  carriage,  35, 71 

Stables,  typical,  289 

Stable  windows,  291 

1  Stafford,'  309 

Staffordshire  roads,  195 

<  Stella,'  164 

Stifle-joint,  19 

Stock,  leathern,  279 

Stomach  of  horse,  292 

—  of  ox,  292 

—  enlarged,  295 
'  Stopping,'  95 
Stumbling-,  229 


Tamplin,  Mr.  C.  H.,  horses  of, 
253 


INDEX. 


339 


TA  K 

Tarsus,  19 

Tendons,  42 

*  Throwing  back,'  18 

'Thrush,' 62 

Thunder  and  lightning,  324 

Tibia,  19 

1  Tommy,'  161 

Tongues  partially  severed,  237 

Tossing  of  bead,  217 

Traction  engines,  223 

Training,  297 

Tram  horses,  174 

Trough-water,  height  of,  302 


Ulna,  10 


Varnish,  natural,  92 

Ventilation,  287 

Veterinary   surgeons'    manifesto, 

235 
Vice  caused  by  cruelty,  308 
'  Vices,  stable/  303 


Walking,  mechanism  of,  53 
Wall,  the,  29 
1  War  Eagle,'  310 
Water,  purity  of,  299 
Watering  horses,  295 

—  in  America,  296 

—  in  Turkey,  296 
Waterton,  Charles,  140,  255 
'  Weaving,'  303 
Welcome,  a  horse's,  310 
Williams,  Mr.  Theodore  E.,  182 
Windows  in  stables,  291 
Wing  clipping,  285 

Wolf,  mode  of '  weaving,'  303 


Xenophon  on  horses,  189 
Yorkshire  regiment,  324 
Zeal  and  discretion,  238 


webs  v;,6dlciy 

Cumminys:  •  ,ry  Med.cine  at 

Tuns  University 

200  Westboro  Road 

North  Grafton,  MA  01536 


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